Dan Fanelly

The College of Wooster, up one spot to No. 8 in this week's D3hoops.com top-25 poll, outscored Allegheny College by 16 points during each half Wednesday night at Meadville, Pa., producing a decisive 89-57 victory that clinched the North Coast Athletic Conference championship outright.

Wooster (21-3, 15-2 NCAC) had already guaranteed itself at least a tie for the NCAC title, and now has claimed it outright just like all the others during the Fighting Scots' remarkable run that now sees them with nine conference championships over the last 10 seasons. They'll also be the No. 1 seed for next week's NCAC Tournament.

Wednesday's win was wire-to-wire, with Wooster scoring the game's opening seven points at Allegheny (5-19, 2-15 NCAC). It did remain close until the Scots put together a 16-0 run late in the opening half to take control of the game.

Leading 27-22 at the 6:34 mark of the half, Wooster proceeded to score 16 unanswered points, a run that featured 3-pointers by Kenny DeBoer, Doug Thorpe, Scott Purcell, and Thorpe again. That fueled the Scots' 45-29 halftime cushion.

The closest the Gators made it during the second half was 50-36, then Wooster rattled off an 8-0 stretch – an old-fashioned three-point play from Dan Fanelly, another Thorpe 3-pointer, and a Xavier Brown lay-up – and the margin was at least 19 points for the remainder.

Statistically, the Scots shot 53.0 percent from the field (35-for-66), which included 10-of-20 3-point shooting. That marked their second-highest rate of the season and they also registered their second-best rebounding margin (+18; 40-22) of the season.

Four Wooster players reached double figures, with Thorpe's 20 points leading the way. He netted 5-of-7 3-pointers, while his backcourt mate, Brown, was right behind with 17 points. The latter was credited with three steals as well.

Fanelly, a freshman forward, scored a season-high 16 points on 7-of-9 field goals and 2-of-3 free throws, to go with a game-high eight rebounds, and DeBoer chipped in 10 points and three assists without a turnover. Also notable, Josh Kipfer had six points, five rebounds, three blocked shots, and two steals.

Ryan Stanko tallied 15 markers in the scorebook to pace Allegheny.

Before starting the postseason, the Scots will close out the regular season at home with "Senior Night" on Saturday as they'll welcome Oberlin College (7-17, 4-13 NCAC) to Timken Gymnasium for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.