WC men's basketball led by veteran core for 2024-25 season

The Wilmington College men's basketball team began their 2024 season Friday night on the road at Mount St. Joseph University. In their battle with the Lions last season on opening night, the Quakers came out victorious, 73-63.

A Look Back

Wilmington ended their 2023-24 season with a 9-16 overall record and 5-13 record in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). Highlights of the season included two big wins over nationally ranked University of Mount Union and a buzzer beater from Domenic Farley to beat Baldwin Wallace University at home. Rashid Chisholm also hit a buzzer beater to send the Quakers into overtime at home against Muskingum University, where they ultimately defeated the Fighting Muskies.

Returners

The Quakers have several returners this season, including essentially the whole starting lineup.

"I am really excited, in year three, to have a team that has as many returners as we do. I haven't been in this position yet as a head coach, so I'm excited for that,” said Quakers head coach Micah Mills. "All of our returners are better than what they were last year, which is exactly what you want to see as a head coach. You want your players to be better by the time they leave campus than when they arrived."

Major returners for the Quakers include All-OAC honoree and senior Domenic Farley (Columbus, Ohio/Briggs HS), senior Obed Achirem (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales HS), senior Rashid Chisholm (Akron, Ohio/Hocking College), senior Gavin Heimlich (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder HS) and sophomores Carson Miles (Georgetown, Ohio/Georgetown HS) and Ben Golan (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS).

Farley led Wilmington last season with 10.7 points per game and 257 total points to go along with a team high 80 assists. He was the one the Quakers wanted with the ball in his hands during big moments in the game.

"I have a lot of confidence in Dom,” said Mills. "He went into last year in his first year as a starting point guard, and he really took the reins of the team on the court."

Mills continued by talking about how Farley has improved his game during the offseason and become a better player physically.

Achirem was injured at the end of last season but was a force for the Quakers when he was on the floor. He is a very physical player that can hang with anybody in the conference defensively and can also get rolling offensively. He will be a key player for Wilmington.

Mills believes Heimlich will be "one of the best defensive bigs in our region." It's not hard to see why, as he was second in the conference in blocked shots with 40. This mark was third in program history for a single season, while setting the single game record with eight blocks when the Quakers played Muskingum at home on January 10th. Heimlich was second on the team with 118 rebounds, 83 defensive rebounds and 35 offensive rebounds.

Chisholm was looked at as "the most improved player on our roster throughout the course of last season." Offensively, he went from not scoring in double digits until the 11th game of the season to scoring 10 or more points in eight of the final 15 games. Mills also loves how he can "guard both guards and forwards. He is a tough matchup defensively because he can play inside out."

Miles also improved tremendously throughout last season. He had some stretches where he didn't play much, before becoming one of the key pieces of the team by the end of the season. Miles was always good for a highlight dunk and was seventh in the OAC with 40 steals.

Golan looks to improve his game this season after a solid freshman campaign that saw him get consistent minutes throughout the year. He scored 28 points against Wittenberg University and was always a threat both offensively and defensively.

Newcomers

Overall, the Quakers have 10 new players on this squad, which includes seven freshmen. Mills talked about how Wilmington "needed more size and shooting" and felt this class "filled the holes on the team."

Players to look for are seven-foot freshman Otto Cipollini from Yellow Springs, Ohio. Although he just began playing basketball his sophomore year of high school, Mills talked about how quick of a learner he is, and he expects big things from him in the future.

A pair of other freshmen that look to get some time this season are Matt DeBrosse and Shaheem Nieves. DeBrosse is from Mason, Ohio, while Nieves hails from Columbus, Ohio.

The rest of the class are Chris Powers from Cincinnati, Ohio, Tristan Morgan from Hilliard, Ohio, Eiden Harvey from Ashland, Va. and Jerry Trout from right here in Wilmington.

Transfers for the Quakers are juniors Gabe Green and Mauricio Diaz. Another player looking to make an impact for Wilmington is junior Cyncere Watkins.

Coaching Staff

Entering his third season as head coach of the Quakers, and 10th year with the program overall, is Micah Mills. Mills is coming off a pair of seasons where the Quakers won eight and nine games.

Alex Trevino is in sixth season as an assistant coach at Wilmington and third as the top assistant coach. Colin Echelberry is in his third season with the Quakers as a volunteer assistant coach.

What to Watch For

As mentioned, the Quakers open up their season on Friday night at Mount St. Joseph University at 8 p.m. They follow this up with their home opener on Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court on Wednesday, Nov. 13 against Earlham College in the Quaker Bowl.

Wilmington begins OAC play at home against Muskingum University on Nov. 26. Other big teams the Quakers welcome to Hermann Court in non-conference play are Wittenberg University, Adrian College and Calvin University.

The Quakers will be looking to make the conference tournament for the first time since 2021-22.

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