Page 10 - Dresden Buzz 03-07-25

PAGE 10 | SPORTS MARCH 7 - 20, 2025
The Fighting Muskies are firing up their Wahle named

Lacrosse season with two big home wins OAC Men’s

Basketball
by Matthew Dotson
Coach of the

Year, Davis and

Emig earn

All-Conference

Honors

Submitted

Muskingum Men’s Basketball Head
Coach Nathan Wahle has been named
the Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of
the Year, while junior guard Duane Davis
earned First Team All-OAC honors and
sophomore guard Owen Emig secured
Honorable Mention All-OAC recognition.
All awards are voted on by league coach-
es.
In just his third season at the helm,
Coach Wahle guided the Muskies to a
standout year, securing a fourth-place
finish in the OAC with 11 conference
wins—far surpassing preseason expecta-
tions after being picked last in the OAC
Preseason Poll. Under Wahle’s leader-
ship, Muskingum notched its highest
win total (14) since 2016-17 and hosted
its first OAC Tournament game since
2005-06.
The Muskies controlled league play,
sweeping four conference opponents
(Marietta, Wilmington, Heidelberg,
and Capital) while showcasing strong
defense. Muskingum led the OAC in
three-point field goal percentage de-
fense (.296), ranked second in turnovers
forced per game (14.6), third in steals
(6.5) and offensive rebounds (10.2) per
game, fourth in overall field goal per-
centage defense (.446), and finished
fifth in both scoring (74.6 ppg) and
points allowed (73.5 ppg).
For his outstanding leadership, Wahle
became the first Muskingum coach to
Fighting Muskies Liam Manning running downfield while being hit by Thiel defenders. Matthew Dotson earn OAC Coach of the Year honors since
Jim Burson in 2005.
Vs Thiel (3/01) Vs Bethany (2/26) over, scoring five points before the end Davis put together a dominant sea-
The Tomcats rolled into town on Satur- The Little Muskies hosted the Betha- of the first period to take the lead at 5 – son, co-leading the OAC in scoring with
day, to a very blustery cold day at Musk- ny Bisons on Wednesday night in their 1. In the second period, Tyler Workman a career-high 18.1 points per game. He
ingum University. The Muskies got off to home opener. Right from the start, the grabbed a goal with an assist by Grant became the 33rd player in Muskingum
a great start, taking a 5 – 0 lead, includ- Muskies took control of the game, jump- Webster. Workman followed up with an history to score 1,000 career points and
ing three goals scored by Grant Webster. ing out to a 7 – 0 lead as the buzzer unassisted goal in the second, but Wa- posted a career-high 30 points twice this
The second quarter saw Muskingum sounded. The Bisons came to life in the bash added two more goals of their own season, against La Roche and Alleghe-
pump out seven more goals while Thiel second period with three goals in the to end the first half up 7 – 3. ny. A reliable force on the court, he shot
squeezed one shot into the goal to end quarter, but the Muskies had five of their Back on the field for the second half, an efficient 49% from the field to rank
the half with Muskingum 12 – Thiel 1. own to take a 12 3 advantage into half- Workman went to task with the first goal among the conference’s top 15. Davis
Back on the field, the Muskies were time. of the period off of an Adin Mondul as- filled the stat sheet with 490 points, 152
not about to slow down, as they contin- As the game resumed, Muskingum sist before an all-out scoring frenzy by rebounds, 59 assists, and 36 steals, ce-
ued to punish the Tomcats with shot af- shut out the Bisons for the second pe- the Little Giants to end the quarter with menting his status as one of the OAC’s
ter shot, taking a 20 – 4 lead by the end riod in the game while piling on another a 10 – 4 advantage. Chipper Lacobucci top performers. Last season, Davis was
of the third period. In the final minutes four goals to end the third up 16 – 3. landed a goal partway into the fourth honored with Honorable Mention All-
of the game, the Muskies’ defense shut The final period was a draw, with each quarter, followed by one final goal by OAC recognition.
out Thiel while allowing their players team landing a goal, but that didn’t mat- Workman assisted by Drew Davis. Wa- Emig established himself as one of
time to pop in six more goals to end the ter to the Muskies as they took the 17 bash added two more goals by Quinn the OAC’s most reliable shooters, finish-
game with a massive 26 – 4 win. – 4 victory. Fitzgerald and Jake Pippen to take the ing 12th in the conference in scoring
The game boasted the second-most Senior Drew Davis had a team-high of win with a 12 – 6 score. (13.4 ppg) and leading the league with
goals in a game in program history with four goals and added a ground ball. Se- 2.3 three-pointers made per game while
the most shots in a game in program nior Grant Webster had two goals, two
history with 93. Also, they had the most assists, and two ground balls. Sopho- shooting 36% from beyond the arc. He
face-offs won in a game in program his- more Evan Cosgrove had two goals, was one of the best free-throw shoot-
tory with 26. three assists, and five ground balls. Made with ers in the OAC, making 83% of his shots
Evan Cosgrove led the Muskies with and ranking second in the conference.
five goals and seven ground balls. Grant Vs Wabash (2/22) 100%% Emig’s all-around performance included
Webster had four goals and three as- The Fighting Muskies traveled to Cin- 363 points, 64 rebounds, 39 assists,
sists, as well as eight ground balls. Owen cinnati on Saturday to take on Wabash local news. and 18 steals.
Winkler went 23-of-28 on face-offs for at a neutral location. Muskingum start-
the Muskies and grabbed 10 ground ed the game off with a score by Dillon
balls. Caudill in the first period to take a 1 – 0
lead. From there, the Little Giants took