By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor
The University of Cincinnati Clermont’s men’s basketball team had 10 days to prepare for their second game of the season after falling to Edison in their season-opener on Nov. 2. After starting the season 0-3, the team has rebounded in a big way.
The Cougars traveled to Southern State to take on Penn State Greater Allegheny on Nov. 12. After initially holding a 37-36 lead at the break, the team was out-scored by 25 points in the second half en route to an 86-62 loss.
The squad returned to Batavia to face Andrews University on Nov. 13 and, like their previous game, kept it close in the first half. The two teams entered the break tied at 34, but UC Clermont scored just 19 points in the second half of what became a 77-53 defeat.
Adam Westbeld led the Cougars in scoring with 14 points. He also tallied six rebounds. Nick Vosel scored 11 points, while Terry Sparks tallied eight points and nine rebounds before fouling out. Mickale Buck scored 11 off the bench for the Cougars.
Andrews had two players score over 20 points. Kris Owen scored 24 and picked up 10 rebounds, while Nick Little added 23 points.
Things began to turn around for the Cougars on Nov. 16. The team welcomed Southern State to campus and rolled to a 30-point win thanks to a 54-21 outburst in the first half. UC Clermont got contributions from everyone on the roster, as Vosel led the way with 26 points. Sparks added 15 points and 11 rebounds,with Westbeld chipping in 10. A’drien Baker scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and had seven steals for the Cougars.
UC Clermont’s run continued against Wittenburg’s junior varsity squad in the opening-round of the Phil Sinkovich Classic on Nov. 18. The Cougars dropped 102 points on Wittenburg in a 102-86 victory.
Five players finished the game in double-figures. Westbeld and Buck each cored 19, with Buck pulling in 12 rebounds in the process. Sparks added 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Alec Smith scored 17 points off the bench. He also grabbed seven boards. The Cougars shot 53 percent from the field as a team in the win.
They then faced Cincinnati Christian’s junior varsity squad, a team that earned a 62-60 win over Jefferson Community & Technical College in the opening round. Thanks to a hot start on the field and a solid defensive performance in the first half, the Cougars defeated the Eagles 92-72 to win the tournament.
Cincinnati Clermont shot over 50 percent in the first half while also holding Cincinnati Christian to under 30 percent from the floor, allowing the Cougars to build a 47-33 lead at the break. Both teams shot well in the second half, but the game was out of reach.
Westbeld scored 26 points to lead the Cougars. He also grabbed 10 rebounds. Baker scored just four points, but dished out eight assists and six rebounds. Sparks had 19 points while Buck chipped in 12. Smith added a double-double off the bench, scoring 10 points and pulling in 12 rebounds.
Head coach Steve Ellis said the team’s turnaround is due to their unselfish ability on the court.
“We’re sharing the basketball, we’re finding the easy, open shots,” Ellis said. “We’re taking the ball to the basket and getting the higher-percentage shots. It helps when our outside shooters are shooting [well], but we’re getting the ball inside to our big man Adam Westbeld. They couldn’t guard him, so that definitely helps.”
Defensively, the team keyed in on Cincinnati Christian’s Charles Henry, who took 13 shots but scored just four points in the game.
“We knew [Henry] was their shooter,” Ellis said. “We tried to over-play him, to make sure he wouldn’t get his touches and shoot too much. That forced them to have guys that don’t normally shoot take shots.”
The Cougars struggled with rebounding early in the season, but against the Eagles they were able to pull down a total of 51 boards to Cincinnati Christian’s 22. Ellis said the team preached rebounding throughout the game.
“We just made it a main focus,” Ellis said. “Before the game, at halftime and during timeouts, we said that we needed to control the boards. We have to go rebound on both ends, but especially on the defensive end. We have some strong players, we need to take advantage of that.”
Westbeld is one of those players. On the season, the center is averaging 16.6 points and five rebounds per game, numbers that will only improve if he can cut down on his fouls, according to Ellis.
“He’s very talented,” Ellis said. “We have to keep him out of foul trouble, the last few games he’s been in some foul trouble. If we can keep him out of it and keep him on the floor more, he’s only going to do some positive stuff for us.”
Another player making an impact for the Cougars is backup forward Alec Smith. Smith hasn’t started a game for UC Clermont yet this season, but he has scored in double-digits in back-to-back contests and currently averages 8.2 points and seven rebounds on the year.
“It’s great to see,” Ellis said. “He contributed points off the bench, which really helps us. The first couple games we were struggling to score and struggling to make shots, but the last three games we’ve scored over 90 because we’re sharing the ball and getting good shots.”
The Cougars will not return to Batavia for a home game for nearly a month. The team travels to Edison for a match on Nov. 30. They then head to Indiana University – Kokomo for a tournament on Dec. 9 and 10 before returning home to Batavia to battle Boyce on Dec. 13.
