February 2, 2009

This Week in Walsh University Athletics
 
Monday, February 2, 2009
 
Mon. 2 Women’s Basketball (H) King College 6 pm
 
Tues. 3 Men's Basketball at Point Park University 7 pm (AM 900 WCER)
 
Fri. 6 Indoor Track at Oberlin College
 
Sat. 7 Women’s Basketball (H) Ohio Dominican University 2 pm
Men’s Basketball (H) Ohio Dominican University 4 pm (AM 900 WCER)
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL: 7th Ranked Cavs (19-3, 8-1) take over First Place in AMC
 
NAIA No. 7 Walsh stretched its season long winning streak to seven games last week, with American Mideast Conference wins over Malone University and the University of Rio Grande.  The Cavs now lead Cedarville University (7-1) by one-half game in the AMC standings.  Cedarville, however, still owns the tie-breaker for the automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament because of their victory over the Cavs on January 10.  Walsh has four AMC games remaining, while the Yellow Jackets have five.  Look for the Cavs to move-up when the NAIA releases its next top 25 poll.  Five teams ranked above the Cavs all suffered losses last week, with Cedarville falling twice.
 
This week, the Cavs travel to Point Park University for a non-league game on Tuesday (7 pm) and return home on Saturday (4 pm) for an AMC contest with Ohio Dominican University.  Both games will be broadcast live on AM 900 WCER and on the Internet at www.wcer.us.
 
Walsh shot 73% (16-22) from the floor, and outscored Malone University 54-31 in the second half on their way to an 86-62 AMC win last Tuesday night.  The win was the sixth straight for the Cavs and gave them a season sweep of the Pioneers (7-15, 3-3).  Walsh trailed 19-9 in the first half, but rebounded to take a 32-31 halftime lead.  Brandon Speck's (6-0, Jr., Mansfield, OH/St. Peter's) three-pointer with 55 seconds left gave the Cavs the lead heading into the locker room.  Speck finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-12 from the floor and 5-9 from three-point.  Walsh led 41-38 with 15:07 to play, when they quickly increased their lead to 49-39 in less than two minutes.  Malone would cut the lead to 49-40 with 13:14 to play, but would trail by double digits the rest of the contest.  Walsh held its largest lead at 81-54 with 3:39 to play.  The Cavs balanced attack produced six players in double figures.  Jeremy Shardo (6-3, So., Yorkshire, OH/Versailles) had a double-double with 16 points and 12 assists.  LJ Sutton (6-4, Fr., Youngstown, OH/Cardinal Mooney) added 13 points, Eric Love (6-2, Sr., Concord, NC/Mt. Pleasant) added 12 points off the bench and Joe Shardo (6-5, Sr., Yorkshire, OH/Versailles) and Kyelce Cescato (6-10, Jr., Barra Bonita, Brazil, Colmeia Entec) each scored 10 points. 
 
Walsh outscored visiting University of Rio Grande (16-8, 3-4 AMC) 107-100 in an AMC game at Alumni Arena on Saturday.  The win kept the Cavs perfect at home at 9-0 this season.  The Cavs are 20-1 at home over the last two years.  Walsh led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but took only a four-point lead (46-42) to the locker room at the half.  Rio would score the first four points of the second half to tie the game at 46, when Walsh went on a 14-4 run to lead 60-50.  Walsh led by as many as 16 points (83-67), with 6:38 to play, but could not completely put away Rio.  With Rio pressing in the final minutes, they would trim the lead to six points (97-91) with 1:07 to play, and to four points (104-100) with 11 seconds remaining.  Walsh spent most of the final two minutes at the foul line, with Jeremy Shardo hitting two free throws with 10 seconds to play to give the Cavs a 106-100 lead.  Shardo would connect on 17-22 from the line and finish with 28 points.  The NAIA's assists leader would hand out nine more today, giving him 174 for the season, a 7.9 per game average.  Shardo handed out 21 assists in the Cavs two wins, against only two turnovers in 39 minutes this past week.  Joe Shardo led Walsh with 26 points, Kyelce Cescato was 8-11 from the floor and finished with 16 points, Brandon Speck (6-0, Jr., Mansfield, OH/St. Peter's) added 13 points and Eric Love (6-2, Sr., Concord, NC/Mt. Pleasant) added 12 points off the bench for the second straight game.
 
Walsh and Point Park University meet for the second time this season, in a non-conference game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.  The Cavs won the AMC meeting, 86-68, at Walsh on January 13.  Point Park is 10-11 overall and 2-5 in the AMC.  They lost 73-68 at Malone on Saturday night.  The all-time series is tied at 15.
 
Walsh and Ohio Dominican University (12-12, 5-4) meet for the only time in the regular season on Saturday in an AMC game.  The Panthers are 8th in the AMC, and won 64-61 over Wilberforce last Saturday.  They play at Northwestern Ohio in an AMC game on Tuesday.  The Cavs lead the all-time series 61-20 and have won the last nine meetings.
 
The Cavs are averaging 88.6 points per game, tops in the AMC, with six players scoring in double figures. After his 34-point explosion at Rio Roberts Wesleyan, Joe Shardo now leads the Cavs in scoring, with a 15.6 per game average.  He is shooting .527 (6th AMC) from the field and .460 (3rd AMC) from three-point.   He is also averaging 6.0 rebounds per contest.  Kyelce Cescato is averaging 14.7 points per game, with a team-leading 8.3 rebounds.  He also leads the team, and AMC in field goal percentage (.638/4th NAIA).  Jeremy Shardo is averaging 14.8 points and leads the AMC and NAIA with 174 assists for a 7.9 per game average.  Shardo is shooting .497 from the field, .453 from three-point and .805 (2nd AMC) from the line.    Brandon Speck is averaging 11.6 points and is shooting .443 from three-point, and leads the team with 66 three's. 
 
As a team, the Cavs are among the AMC and NAIA leaders.  In scoring; 88.6 (AMC 1st, NAIA 6th), scoring defense 64.6 (AMC 2nd), scoring margin 24.0 (AMC 1st, NAIA 1st), free throw percentage .743 (AMC 1st, NAIA 6th), field goal percentage .519 (AMC 1st, NAIA 2nd), 3-PT FG percentage .441 (AMC 1st, NAIA 1st), rebound margin 12.5 (AMC 1st, NAIA 2nd), assist/turnover ratio 1.6 (AMC 1st, NAIA 1st).
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL:  Cavs' (14-9, 8-2) Split AMC Home Games, Still Stand Alone in 2nd Place in AMC
 
Walsh (14-9, 8-2) split a pair of American Mideast Conference games last week, and still own sole possession of second place in the conference.  But, with the loss, they have some more company in quest of the AMC's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.  Rio Grande, who snapped the Cavs four-game win streak on Saturday, is 5-2.  Daemen College and Ohio Dominican University are both 7-3 and Cedarville University stands 5-3.  The Cavs host Ohio Dominican this Saturday and Daemen College on February 20th.  The Cavs already downed Cedarville, 76-56 on the road on January 10.  Walsh, who received their first vote in the national poll last week, control their own destiny. 
 
The Cavs will host King College on Monday night at 6 pm.  This is a make-up from the November 25th game that was postponed.  The Cavs then host Ohio Dominican at 2 pm on Saturday in a crucial AMC game.
 
Walsh outscored Malone University 45-23 in the second half, on their way to a 74-51 AMC win at Alumni Arena on Tuesday night.  The two teams meet at Malone's Osborne Hall for the Mayor's Cup on February 17.  After a poor shooting first half (11-31), the Cavs shot 16-32 in the second half in pulling away for the win.  Katie Berry (So., Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph’s) and Kristi Yoder (6-1, Fr., Millersburg, OH/Hiland) combined for 43 of the Cavs 74 points. Berry led the Cavs with 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Yoder added 21 points on 7-12 from the floor.  Leah Seaman (5-8, Jr., Louisville, OH/HS) was 3-4 from three-point and chipped in 11 points off the bench.
 
The University of Rio Grande (15-7, 5-2 AMC) held Walsh to just 36% from the floor, in handing the Cavs a 79-68 AMC loss at Alumni Arena last Saturday.  The loss snapped the Cavs four-game AMC win streak, and was just the second loss in their last 12 games.  With a late first half spurt, the Cavs entered the half tied at 34.  Ciera Burkes (5-3, So., Shaker Heights, OH/HS) scored eight first-half points on 2-2 from three-point.  Rio Grande scored the first 5 points in the second half, and never trailed.   Walsh would force ties at 46 and 48 and would trim the lead to 55-54 on a Jessie Miller (5-10, Jr., Strasburg, OH/HS) three-ball with 8:38 to play, but would come no closer.  Rio would go on a 15-6 run to ice the game.  The Red Storm smothered Walsh's leading scorer, Katie Berry, holding her to just 10 points on 3-12 from the floor.  Berry is averaging 15.4 points per game.  Cara Bedard (6-0, So., Randolph, OH/Waterloo) had a double-double, and led the Cavs with 15 points and 11 rebounds.  Chelsea Chaffin (5-3, Fr., Mt. Sterling, OH/Madison-Plains) tallied 13 points, with Miller also adding 10.
 
Walsh and King (7-14) are meeting for the second time this season on Monday night.  The Cavs won at King, 71-60, on December 8.  King is 6-14 on the season, with wins in two of their last three games.  The all-time series is tied at 1-1.
 
Ohio Dominican comes to Walsh with an overall record of 13-10 and 7-3 in the AMC.  They are tied for fourth place with Daemen College.  The Panthers lost 59-57 at Wilberforce on Saturday.  They play at Northwestern Ohio on Tuesday night.  Walsh leads the all-time series 37-13.  The teams split the series last year.
 
Katie Berry leads the Cavs in scoring, averaging 15.4 points (AMC 7th).  She is shooting .496 (AMC 3rd) from the field and .803 (AMC 6th) from the line.  Berry also leads the team with 77 assists (3.3).  Cara Bedard is the only other player scoring in double figures, averaging 12.1 points and a team-leading 6.2 rebounds.  Bedard is also shooting a team-leading .539 from the field, and has recorded four double-doubles on the season.  Freshman Chelsea Chaffin is averaging 7.9 points and is second to Berry in assists.
 
As a team, the Cavs have eclipsed last season’s win total overall (13) and in the AMC (5).

Mar. 19, 2010

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