Brandon Adair’s 31 points led the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins to the first automatic bid of the 2006 season in another heartstopping ODAC playoff game, defeating Randolph-Macon 81-78 in overtime. VWC led by as many as nine points in the second half. R-MC’s Justin Wansley led the Yellow Jackets with 24 points.
The Yellow Jackets find themselves as the first team in the pool, C that is. R-MC finishes up with a 22-6 mark overall and a 19-6 regional record.
Back up north, Lincoln University rolled Penn State-Abington, 115-83, behind 62 points from Kyle Myrick. Myrick’s previous season high was a mere 45.
In on the women’s side: Washington U.
In on the men’s side: Virginia Wesleyan. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps can clinch the SCIAC with a win or an Occidental loss tonight.
Pomona-Pitzer defeated Occidental tonight, giving Claremont-Mudd-Scripps the SCIAC automatic bid and putting Occidental deeply on the bubble.
What in the h-e-double hockey sticks is going on with Oxy?
Well, they barely beat CMS and P-P at Oxy, and those are not easy places to play.
Remember what we thought of Occidental when they opened with this lineup? We have to go back there, I think.
Nov 18, 2005 vs. Pacific Union (n) W 77-44
Nov 19, 2005 vs. West Coast Baptist (n) W 109-36
Nov 22, 2005 La Sierra W 75-45
Dec 3, 2005 at William Jessup W 88-73
Dec 4, 2005 at Pacific Union W 59-58
Dec 6, 2005 at Azusa Pacific L 89-71
Dec 17, 2005 at Chapman + W 65-60
Dec 19, 2005 at La Sierra W 67-62
QOWI now looks to be 9.867. Unlike Randolph-Macon, which is in the same ballpark at 10.000, Occidental’s regional winning percentage is just .733. Randolph-Macon is at .760.
Right now, Randolph-Macon appears to be in pretty good shape, but Occidental may be too far down the bubble list to be considered.
Yeah, I agree. I wasn’t that sold on Oxy’s profile anyway, but the rest of the SCIAC was fairly pedestrian, aside from C_M-S.
Oxy looked strong through most of their schedule but coach seemed to stay a little too loyal to his starting group when some of them faltered, I think mixing in some different players may have sparked some fresh looks and kicked them back into high gear. With their play at the end of the schedule I don’t even see a bubble in their playoff hopes. Shame – they were one of my favorites mid season.