Brown’s Regulation Buzzer-Beater Not Enough, as Witt Prevails 68-62 in OT

The College of Wooster's Xavier Brown hit a jumper at the regulation buzzer to cap a 16-point second-half comeback and send Saturday night's rivalry game into overtime, but the 13th-ranked Fighting Scots were unable to maintain the momentum as No. 22 Wittenberg University doubled them up, 12-6, in the extra session and prevailed 68-62 at Springfield, Ohio.

Wooster's record streak of seven North Coast Athletic Conference championships in a row is now most likely over, as Wittenberg (18-5, 12-2 NCAC) has clinched at least a share of the title and can win it outright with a victory in either of two games next week.

Even getting to overtime seemed unlikely, as Wooster (19-4, 10-4 NCAC) was trailing 56-49 with 1:12 remaining in regulation and the Tigers were at the free throw line for a one-and-one. Wittenberg missed the front end and the Scots quickly got back into the game when Doug Thorpe nailed a 3-pointer at the 1:03 mark.

Jalen Goodwin then made a steal and transition lay-up to pull Wooster within 56-54. The Tigers worked the clock down on the ensuing possession, nearly committing a shot clock violation and eventually came up empty with Justin Hallowell securing the defensive rebound.

After a pair of timeouts, the Scots worked the ball around the perimeter to no avail before Brown drove inside the arc, then pulled up and hit a well-defended, fadeaway jumper from the right side as the horn sounded.

Given a second chance in a game that it never led, Wooster was unable to take advantage. The Tigers' Alex Brandt scored on their first two possessions of overtime, sandwiched around a miss of an open look on the inside by the Scots.

Wooster trimmed the deficit to two twice (60-58 and 63-61), and possessed one opportunity to tie or take the lead, but turned it over instead with 1:46 on the clock. Then, Clayton Black got inside position and laid the ball in after receiving a pass from fellow post Brandt to make it a four-point advantage again.

The Scots, who missed a quick 3-pointer after Black's bucket, had one last chance to make a push, but converted just 1-of-2 free throws with 37.9 seconds remaining to make it 65-62. With Wooster forced to foul, Michael Cooper went on to seal the outcome by making 3-of-4 free throws.

During the first half, the Scots' offense struggled to get much of anything going and Wittenberg steadily built a double-digit lead, with the 34-18 halftime score being its largest.

Wooster stormed out of the locker room, cutting the margin to four (41-37) less than five minutes into the second half. Brown accounted for 10 of the Scots' points during that 19-7 spurt.

It went down to a three-point margin a couple of times, including 48-45 around the midway point of the half, but then Wooster endured a near-six minute scoreless drought. The Tigers, though, only expanded their lead to six during the same stretch, and later to seven with a little under 2:00 to go before the Scots made their late rally in regulation.

While Wooster did extend the game to overtime, it may have ultimately been done in by a miserable free throw shooting performance. The Scots hit just 6-of-15 for a season-low 40.0 percent, compared to Wittenberg's 17-of-22 and 77.3 percent. Otherwise, the team statistics were nearly identical.

Individually, Brown scored a season-high 24 points to lead all players in scoring. He was 10-of-19 on field goals, while Hallowell recorded his second double-double in as many games, and the fifth of his career, with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Cooper paced three Tigers in double figures with 14 points, while they also received a boost from reserve Steven Newell, who made 3-of-4 3-pointers for nine points.

Wooster will look to shake off the loss when it returns to action Wednesday, as Allegheny College (5-18, 3-11 NCAC) visits Timken Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.