Wooster Overwhelms Earlham 95-54, Wins NCAC Title Outright

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster honored Marty Bidwell's (Middletown, Ohio / Bishop Fenwick) final regular season game at Timken Gymnasium by trouncing Earlham College 95-54 Saturday afternoon, and along with the "Senior Day" festivities, the Fighting Scots had another reason to celebrate as they clinched the 2008-09 North Coast Athletic Conference championship.

Making it a tad sweeter was Allegheny College's 59-57 win at Ohio Wesleyan University, giving Wooster the outright title. That marks the Scots' fifth consecutive NCAC championship, a feat accomplished just one other time in the conference's 25-year history by the 1990-94 Wittenberg University squads. Wittenberg, though, had to share titles with Wooster in 1992 and with Allegheny College in 1993.

Bidwell, the Scots' lone active senior, made a 3-pointer on Saturday's initial possession and Wooster (19-6, 14-2 NCAC) went on to a wire-to-wire victory.

Earlham (3-22, 3-13 NCAC) connected on four of its first eight 3-point attempts to keep the game close, trailing 20-14 at that point. The score was 23-16 with just over 10 minutes remaining, however, the Scots outscored the Quakers 32-8 the second part of the first half, including nine more points from Bidwell, for a 31-point cushion at the break (55-24).

Wooster, which shot 74.2 percent from the field during the opening 20 minutes (23-for-31), expanded its lead to as much as 54 during the second, eventually securing the 41-point triumph.

The Scots ended up with a field-goal rate of .545 (36-for-66), including 11-of-27 3-point shooting (.407), and helped hold Earlham to 30.6 percent overall (19-for-62). Wooster doubled-up the Quakers in the rebounding category with a 50-25 advantage.

Individually, Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) produced game highs in both points with 23 and assists with five. Franks made a career-high 4-of-5 3-pointers.

Bidwell shot 7-of-9 from the floor as part of a 16-point day – his third-highest of the season – and he also dished out four assists. That gives him 324 helpers for his career, moving past former Scot great Rodney Mitchell (321 from 2000-04) into sixth-place on the school's all-time list.

Also of note, Nathan Balch (Westerville, Ohio / Olentangy) chipped in 12 points and Bryan Wickliffe (Columbus, Ohio / St. Charles Prep) grabbed 11 rebounds, marking his fourth double-digit total this season.

Earlham was led by its standout senior, Tristian Gregory, who closed out his career with a 16-point effort.

The Scots will be the No. 1 seed for next week's NCAC Tournament. They'll face a challenge during the quarterfinal round Tuesday night, as eighth-seeded Denison University (8-17, 5-11 NCAC) visits Timken Gym at 7:30 p.m. Just 10 days ago (Feb. 11), Wooster needed a long distance 3-pointer at the end of regulation and two overtimes to get past the Big Red 102-92.