CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana – The College of Wooster men's basketball team turned on the jets late to run away from archrival Wittenberg University 79-62 in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Wabash College's Chadwick Court on Friday evening.
Wooster (18-9) and Wittenberg (18-9) were deadlocked at 59 with 8:20 to play, then the Fighting Scots went on a 20-2 run. Wooster's win extends the program's run of 18-win seasons to 35. Additionally, Wooster matched the longest winning streak in rivalry history at eight games. Of note, Wooster's 69-60 lead in the all-time series matches the largest and is the first nine-game advantage since Wittenberg led 50-41 following an 87-86 win on Jan. 19, 2008.
Junior Jamir Billings' three-pointer at 8:13 broke the tie, then Wittenberg's Jeff Queen was whistled for a moving screen at the other end. The moving screen turned into three Wooster points when junior Ashton Price found sophomore Jaiden Cox-Holloway open in the corner for a triple that upped the lead to 65-59.
Senior Nick Everett's dunk capped Wooster's 8-0 run, while a step-back Billings three-pointer made it 71-60 with 5:32 to go. Later, Wittenberg's Trey Killens barreled into senior JJ Cline, and the drawn charge all-but-sealed the Tigers' fate. Price's second-chance floater grew the lead to 75-61 with 3:34 to go.
Cline's jumper with 16:24 on the second-half clock gave Wooster a 42-40 lead, marking the first by the Scots since the opening seconds. Wooster remained ahead or tied until Killens upped his point haul to 15 on a triple that made it 52-49 Wittenberg at 12:05.
Price, whose 26 points were one off a career-high, heated up near the second half's midpoint. His three-pointer at 11:09 gave Wooster a 54-52 lead, and the junior scored three the old-fashion way on the next possession. Sophomore Vinni Veikalas' free throws gave Wooster the 59-57 lead before Killens tied the game at the charity stripe.
Price reached 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting, which included a 3-of-6 mark from beyond the arc. Billings followed with 17 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. He hit five three-pointers in the win.
Everett and sophomore EJ Kapihe combined for 23 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Everett was a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor. Cox-Holloway's 10 rebounds led all players.
Wooster shot 47.3 percent (26-of-55) for the game and connected at a 53.8 percent (14-of-26) clip after halftime. Wooster buried Wittenberg in rebounding 45-31 and had just 10 turnovers.
Killens scored 19 points, but it took him 16 shots to get there. Eddie Brown's 14 points marked the only other Tiger in double figures in the scoring column.
Wittenberg shot just 37 percent (20-of-54) and was even worse on three-pointers at 22.7 percent (5-of-22). The Tigers missed their final 11 field goals of the game. Wittenberg did shoot 17-of-23 at the charity stripe and limited the miscues with just eight turnovers.
Wooster plays the winner of the Wabash (18-8)-Denison University (12-14) semifinal for the NCAC Tournament title at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Wabash. The winner of Saturday's game earns the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Div. III Championships.
Of note, Wooster is 19-6 in the last 25 games against the archrival.
