Turner Kurt kicked off basketball championship season in style with a buzzer-beating, outright North Coast Athletic Conference championship and tournament one seed-clinching three-pointer in Saturday's dramatic 75-74 win over second-place Wabash College. The game-winner led to The College of Wooster men's basketball senior earning NCAC Athlete of the Week honors on Monday.

The NCAC Tournament's top seed was at stake in Saturday's Wooster-Wabash game, and the rivals would have shared the conference title had the Little Giants won. Wabash had just taken a lead on Josh Whack's floating jumper with :02.4 remaining, but a near-full-court pass was deflected out of bounds by the Little Giants, giving the Fighting Scots a chance to set up a good look. Senior Najee Hardaway's screen just outside the key sprung Kurt free from Wabash's Ahmoni Jones, and the Scots' forward got the Little Giants to bite on the ball fake. Kurt then authored one of the best finishes in Timken Gymnasium history.

Kurt's 16 points led Wooster. The senior was 6-of-8 from the floor, hit both of his triples, and was 2-of-2 at the charity stripe. The 6-8 forward had six rebounds in a balanced game for the Scots, which saw three other players have at least six boards. Kurt came up big defensively with three blocked shots and he had a steal in the win.

Wooster (19-5, 13-3 NCAC), which has a NCAC-leading 19 titles, hosts Oberlin College (8-17, 4-12 NCAC) in the quarterfinals of the NCAC Tournament on Tuesday, February 21 at 7 p.m.