Brandon Johnson

The College of Wooster held off Wabash College 64-61 to clinch at least a share of the program's sixth consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference championship, sealing it in fitting fashion as senior point guard Brandon Johnson came up with a steal on the final possession of Sunday's match-up at Crawfordsville, Ind.

With four regular season games remaining, No. 21 ranked Wooster (17-4, 12-0 NCAC) owns a four-game lead in the league standings over three teams tied for second-place, including Wabash (13-7, 8-4 NCAC).

After the Little Giants tied it at 59 in the late going, Ian Franks converted a drive to the hoop with 24.7 seconds remaining to put the Fighting Scots in the lead (61-59).

On the ensuing possession, Wabash misfired on a quick 3-pointer, but gained the offensive rebound following a scramble for the ball that went out-of-bounds. Shortly after the in-bounds pass, Wooster's Bryan Wickliffe stood his ground and picked up a charging foul with 15.6 seconds on the clock.

Less than a second later, Johnson went to the free throw line where he split a pair to extend the lead to 62-59. The Little Giants missed another 3-point try, but again got the offensive rebound, and this time Derek Bailey, after collecting it right underneath the basket, put it right back up and in to make it 62-61 at the 5.5 mark.

The Scots successfully in-bounded the ball to Matt Fegan, who was quickly fouled, and the sophomore reserve guard calmly sunk both free throws to push the lead to three again (64-61) with 4.9 seconds showing. It marked Fegan's lone points of the game.

Wabash had one last chance, but after crossing the mid-court line, it lost control of the ball right into Johnson's hands, and Wooster's senior dribbled out the clock.

The game went back-and-fourth throughout with 11 lead changes and 11 ties overall.

After the Scots sprinted out to a 9-2 lead, seven points coming from Nathan Balch, the Little Giants took the momentum with 15-2 run, highlighted by two deep 3-pointers via Aaron Brock. Wooster would conclude the first half strong, though, and went into the break with a 32-27 cushion.

A Balch bucket pushed the advantage to seven early in the second half, however, Wabash rallied for seven unanswered points, and over the final 18 minutes of action, neither squad led by more than four.

Statistically, the difference in the game was the Scots shooting just a tad better from the field, ending up at 45.8 percent (22-for-48) to the Little Giants' 38.3 percent (18-for-47), and committing eight less turnovers (9-17). Wabash did hold the edge at the free throw line, making 20-for-23 (.870), while Wooster shot below its season rate (.682; 15-for-22), and the Little Giants also held a slight edge in rebounding (31-27).

Balch paced the Scots in the scoring department with 17 points, and he was joined in double figures by Franks (13), Johnson (11), and Wickliffe (10). For Johnson, the 11 points marked a season high, and he also came up with a career-high six steals. Justin Hallowell contributed a game-high nine rebounds to the victory.

Brock was the day's high scorer with 20 points, including 3-of-6 3-pointers, and Wes Smith chipped in 18 for the Little Giants.

Wooster can clinch the NCAC championship outright on Wednesday night when it travels to Hiram College (10-11, 7-5 NCAC) for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.