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| Justin Hallowell connected on this deep 3-pointer as the halftime horn sounded, giving Wooster a 39-30 lead. |
WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster knocked down a season-best 56.5 percent of its 3-pointers (13-for-23), paving the way for an 82-68 victory over archrival Wittenberg University Saturday night during the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game at Timken Gymnasium.
With the win, Wooster (26-2), also the NCAC regular season champions, picks up the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III Championships, which beings with first-round action March 3 and 4. It will mark the Scots' 16th appearance in the national field over the last 17 seasons, and 20th overall.
Wooster was hot early from the outside, as it built a 23-11 lead just over seven minutes into the action, thanks in part to hitting its first four 3-pointers, each by a different player – Ian Franks, Matt Fegan, Justin Warnes, and Nathan Balch.
The Scots continued to maintain a double-digit advantage, extending it to as much as 16 (33-17) when Justin Hallowell drained 3-balls on back-to-back possessions. However, Wittenberg (19-8) gained the momentum for most of the final seven minutes of the half, scoring nine unanswered at one point and later cutting it to a five-point margin at 35-30.
Wooster, though, did get a significant boost when Hallowell added another 3-pointer, this time coming from very deep off of an in-bounds play at the buzzer, which made it 39-30 at halftime.
Balch opened the second by swishing one from outside the arc on the right wing, and the Scots proceeded to keep the lead in double figures for the next six minutes. Then, the Tigers would make another run, again putting up nine-straight points to pull within five (50-45).
The visitors trimmed it further to 54-50, only to see Franks get hot. He scored nine points of a 14-4 Wooster run, opening up a couple of 14-point cushions (66-52, 68-54).
Wittenberg made one last push, getting as close as 75-68 with 1:12 remaining, but the Scots made 7-of-8 free throws to seal their third NCAC Tournament championship in a row and 13th overall.
In addition to its proficiency from 3-point range, Wooster finished at a .558 rate overall from the floor for its third-highest field-goal percentage of the season, and also limited the Tigers to 41.1 percent, including 7-of-31 3-point shooting (.226). The Scots also held a slight rebounding edge of 34-30.
Franks, who had a double-double (25 points, 12 rebounds) during the semifinals, paced all players with 25 points Saturday, 20 coming in the second half, good for tournament MVP honors. He shot 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-6 3-pointers, and also contributed five rebounds and three assists in the championship.
Hallowell wound up 4-of-6 from 3-point range as part of a 19-point, eight rebound, three-assist night, and Balch scored 13 points, including 3-of-6 from the arc.
Wooster's other all-tournament selection was senior center Bryan Wickliffe, who helped the Scots get past Allegheny College in the quarterfinals Tuesday with a team-high 15 points and then added eight rebounds in both the semis and finals as well as his trademark tough defense.
Clayton Black paced Wittenberg with 19 points and six boards and fellow post Alex Brandt also was solid with 14 points, including 6-of-7 field goals. Black was on the all-tourney team, as was Chris Sullivan, who tied a tournament record with nine 3-pointers made in the Tigers' semifinal win.
Rounding out the all-tournament team were Wabash College's Nick Curosh and Tim Brady of fellow semifinalist Ohio Wesleyan University.
The NCAA will release the bracket on Monday at 1 p.m., at ncaa.com.