Wooster to Serve as NCAA Sectional Host Again

The College of Wooster was selected to serve as a host site for this weekend's sectional round of the 2012 NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championship, as the Fighting Scots (26-4) welcome Illinois Wesleyan University (21-7), North Central (Ill.) College (22-7), and Wittenberg University (23-6) for Round of 16 and quarterfinal games at 3,400-seat Timken Gymnasium. This marks the second year in a row Wooster has hosted the NCAA sectionals and fourth overall, with the other two also coming in back-to-back seasons (2003, 2004).

On Friday, March 9, both sectional semifinals consist of Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin versus North Coast Athletic Conference match-ups. First, the two league's regular season champions, North Central, which includes former Wooster All-American Ian Franks on its coaching staff, and Wittenberg will play each other, followed by Illinois Wesleyan, which knocked off No. 1 ranked Hope College 108-101 in double overtime during the previous round, and Wooster. The two winners meet on Saturday, March 10, for the sectional championship and right to advance to the national semifinals in Salem, Va.

Also of note, this sectional brings together the three winningest programs in NCAA Div. III history in Wittenberg (1,652 all-time victories), Wooster (1,577), and Illinois Wesleyan (1,524).

On the Air: For fans unable to make it to Timken Gymnasium, the College will be providing live video of all three games at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wooster-mens-basketball.

There will be live stats of all three games as well at http://livestats.prestosports.com/wooster/.

Additionally, every Wooster game can be heard live in the Wooster area on WQKT 104.5 FM or anywhere by following links on the commercial radio station's website at http://www.wqkt.com/. Mike Breckenridge serves as the "Voice of the Fighting Scots."

Ticket Information: Ticket prices for this weekend's NCAA sectional games have been set at $8 for adults and $5 for senior citizens, students, and children (under two are free). College of Wooster students, however, can be part of the excitement for free, courtesy of the president's office. Students must present their College ID to receive a ticket.

There will be no advanced ticket sales and the gates first open at 4 p.m. Friday, and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Also of note, artificial noisemakers are prohibited.

NCAA Tourney Notes: The Scots are in the midst of their 21st appearance in the NCAA Div. III tourney. Only six others have been in as many – Franklin & Marshall College (23), Hope College (23), Illinois Wesleyan University (21), Salem State College (23), University of Scranton (24), and Wittenberg University (26).

Wooster, which also played in two other NCAA Tournaments prior to Div. III (1971, 1973), has been in the national field 17 of the last 18 seasons and 20 times since 1990. The Scots' all-time record in the Div. III tourney is 27-21 – 19-5 in games played at Timken Gymnasium, 7-6 at neutral sites, and 1-10 in true road games. Wooster has reached the Div. III sectional round ("Sweet 16") eight times over the last 14 years, highlighted by runs to the 2011 national championship game and to the semifinals two other times (2003, 2007).

Against the 2012 NCAA Field: Including last weekend's first- and second-round action, Wooster has played eight games against teams in the NCAA Div. III Championship field, going 6-2. Prior to the NCAA's, three of them came against fellow North Coast Athletic Conference foe Ohio Wesleyan University, all close Scot wins – 72-68 and 54-50 during the regular season and 89-80 in the conference tournament semifinals. Wittenberg University barely swept the Scots in the archrivals' regular season series, 56-55 and 68-62 in overtime. Wooster's other match-up with an eventual NCAA participant occurred in Puerto Rico, where the Scots came back from 20 points down to St. Mary's (Md.) College and prevailed 63-61.

All-Time Series: Illinois Wesleyan and Wooster have met just two times previously, one coming in the sectional semifinals of the 2004 NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championship. The Scots came back from an 11-point second half deficit (28-17) in that one on their way to a 58-53 win, while the Titans took the other meeting, a regular season affair, by the score of 79-71 on Dec. 15, 1978.

North Central (Ill.) and Wooster have played just once, two days prior to the aforementioned Illinois Wesleyan-Wooster game. The Scots ran past the Cardinals 103-73 Dec. 13, 1978.

Wittenberg-Wooster has been one of the best rivalries in college basketball, if not the best, over the last 20-plus seasons. They've played 102 times overall, with the Tigers owning a 54-48 edge, and the final outcome has been five points or less during 42 of those games (41.2 percent), including nine of the last 18 and 22 of the last 47. None of their meetings have ever taken place during an NCAA Tournament. Since Wittenberg joined the North Coast Athletic Conference in 1989-90, the two programs have combined to win or share every NCAC championship (Allegheny College was the only team to break in via a co-championship  duirng 1992-93), and the series record during that time is 29-26 Wittenberg. Neither has won more than four in a row against the other during that stretch and the average margin of victory has been just 7.7 points.

Head Coach Steve Moore: The architect behind the winningest NCAA men's basketball team of the 2000s is Steve Moore. In addition to guiding Wooster to 337 victories this century, he carries a 25-year record of 595-133 (.817) with the Fighting Scots. Prior to coming to Wooster in 1987-88, Moore coached Muhlenberg College for six seasons and was successful there as well, giving him a career record of 682-198 (.775), which puts him third all-time in wins for Div. III coaches. Moore has seven Coach-of-the-Year honors from the North Coast Athletic Conference.

How the Scots Got Here: After winning the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, and thus receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championship, Wooster was awarded home games during last weekend's first- and second-round action.

On March 2, the Scots got a couple of late 3-pointers from Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) and Justin Hallowell (Columbus, Ohio / Thomas Worthington), the first breaking a 59-59 tie and the second providing a 67-61 cushion, as Wooster worked hard for a 70-63 win over Maryville (Tenn.) College in the opening round. Maryville tied it at 59 with 2:34 remaining, then a Josh Claytor (Oxford, Ohio / Talawanda) offensive rebound kept the next possession alive and he sent the ball to Fegan, who drained a 3-pointer for a lead that the Scots would not give up. Sandwiched between the two 3-balls, Doug Thorpe (Columbus, Ohio / Eastmoor Acad.) made a key play, stripping the ball and turning the steal into a transition lay-up. Hallowell paced all players with 23 points and Claytor contributed 15 to go with a career-high 12 rebounds. Also, Xavier Brown (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) tallied an even dozen points.

On March 3, Wooster ended the first half of its second-round game with Capital University on an 11-2 stretch and started the second with a 9-1 run, adding up to a 19-point cushion (52-33), and the margin never got any closer than 16 until the benches had been emptied. Five Scots reached double figures, led by Hallowell's fifth 20-point effort in his last seven games. He scored 20 exactly, including 5-of-8 3-pointers, while Brown scored 18, 16 coming during the first half. Justin Warnes (Toledo, Ohio / Bowsher) added a career-high 14 points as well as eight boards and four assists. Claytor chipped in 12 points and Jalen Goodwin (Hamilton, Ohio / Lakota East) notched the second double-digit game of his young career with 11.

Conference Tourney Recap: The Scots won the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, marking their fourth in a row and league-leading 14th out of a possible 28.

On Feb. 21, Justin Hallowell (Columbus, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing with less than 40 seconds to go right after DePauw University had tied the game for the first time in the second half (51-51), and second-seeded Wooster added five free throws during the final seconds to prevail 59-51 in NCAC Tournament quarterfinal action. DePauw had scored nine unanswered from the 4:23 mark to just under a minute left, leveling the score for the first time since it was 5-5 before Hallowell's big shot. Hallowell tallied 25 points, including 4-of-8 3-point shooting, and fellow senior Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) made 4-of-5 3-balls for his 12 points.

On Feb. 24, the Scots hit a series of 3-pointers midway through the second half to build a 19-point bulge (70-51), then withstood a late rally by third-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University before securing an 89-80 NCAC Tournament semifinal victory. Wooster made 6-of-9 from outside the arc, turning a 48-41 margin into 70-51 over an eight-minute stretch. The Battling Bishops did trim a 77-63 deficit with 4:02 to go down to 77-72 entering the final two minutes, but the Scots hung on, thanks in large part to 10-of-12 free throw shooting. Fegan drilled 4-of-7 3-pointers as part of a 17-point outing, while four others also reached double figures for Wooster. Hallowell scored 13 points, and Xavier Brown (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green), Josh Claytor (Oxford, Ohio / Talawanda), and Doug Thorpe (Columbus, Ohio / Eastmoor Academy) each added an even dozen.

On Feb. 25, upstart Denison University, the No. 5 seed, attempted two shots, one to tie and one to win, during the final 5.8 seconds, but the Scots survived and won the NCAC Tournament once again, this time by a score of 53-51. Denison gained its biggest lead of the game at 48-41 with just under nine minutes remaining, only to see Wooster rattle off an 8-0 run over the next three possessions. Claytor made a couple of free throws at the 3:43 mark and then a lay-up with 1:50 remaining to keep the Scots ahead. Neither team scored during the final 1:37. Hallowell scored 14 points, as did Claytor, and they combined for 15 rebounds.

Regular Season Recap: After graduating three of its top-four players from a group that extended Wooster's streak of conference championships to seven and advanced all the way to the national championship game of the 2011 NCAA Div. III Championships, expectations were slightly lower for the 2011-12 Scots, but they reloaded, going 21-4 through the regular season.

Of Wooster's four losses, two were heartbreakers to archrival Wittenberg University, one on an offensive put-back as the buzzer sounded for a 56-55 setback Dec. 7 and the other went to OT before the Tigers prevailed 68-62 on Feb. 11. The other two were both road losses in Indiana, 72-58 to then-No. 25 ranked Wabash College Dec. 10 and 75-66 at DePauw University Jan. 14.

Other than that it has been all victories for Wooster, as it extended its NCAA Div. III-leading active streak to 16 consecutive 20-win seasons. Among the highlights were a 20-point comeback to defeat St. Mary's (Md.) College 63-61 in a game played at San Juan, P.R., on Dec. 19; a sweep of 20-game winner Ohio Wesleyan University, 72-68 on Jan. 21, 54-50 on Feb. 8, and 89-80 on Feb. 24; and avenging its previous losses to Wabash and DePauw by defeating the Little Giants 77-59 on Feb. 4 and the Tigers 74-67 on Feb. 18 as well as 59-51 and on Feb. 21.

The Scots' key to success, as usual, has been defense. They rate sixth in NCAA Div. III in defensive 3-point percentage (.282) and 13th in overall defensive field-goal percentage (.390).

Offensively, the Scots traditionally balanced attack has six players averaging 6.0 or more points, including three in double figures. Four-year starter Justin Hallowell (Columbus, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) has been finishing strong with an average of 18.2 points the last 12 games to boost his season rate to a team-leading 14.0. The 6-7 forward can score in a variety of ways, notice 74 3-pointers, 67 two-point field goals, and 63 free throws, and he also paces Wooster in rebounding (6.8 rpg).

Xavier Brown (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) has certainly been a welcome addition, as the freshman guard contributes 13.0 points per night, which included 18.1 through his first seven games, and he also leads the team with 31 steals. Junior center Josh Claytor (Oxford, Ohio / Talawanda) scored at a rate of 15.3 points during a 12-game stretch (Dec. 10-Jan. 25) to bump his season average to 11.1 points on a league-leading .617 field-goal percentage.

Senior Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) has connected on 57 3-pointers as part of a 7.5 scoring average while also distributing a team-high 2.7 assists, and the third starter is also a senior, Justin Warnes (Toledo, Ohio / Bowsher), who thrives in his role as a defensive stopper to go with 5.4 points.

Wooster's reserves currently consists of freshman forward Kenny DeBoer (Westerville, Ohio / Westerville North), freshman guard Jalen Goodwin (Hamilton, Ohio / Lakota East), junior center Jake Mays (Tallmadge, Ohio / Tallmadge), freshman guard Evan Pannell (Akron, Ohio / Archbishop Hoban), and sophomore guard Doug Thorpe (Columbus, Ohio / Eastmoor Academy). Mays and Thorpe are the top scorers of that group at 6.2 and 6.1 points, respectively.

NCAA Div. III Record and Counting: The Scots' Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) broke the NCAA Div. III record for career games played last weekend when he officially stepped on the court for the 125th time. He surpassed Virginia Wesleyan College's Tonton Balenga (124; 2005-08). Fegan has played every game of his career, helping the Scots to a 105-20 record (.840).

300 3-Pointers: Senior forward Justin Hallowell (Columbus, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) eclipsed the 300 milestone for career 3-pointers made last weekend. Already the school and North Coast Athletic Conference record holder in that category, the 6-7 forward further distanced himself in the record book as he now has 303. Hallowell would need to make 21 more to crack the top-25 in NCAA Div. III history.

This and That: Wooster was ranked No. 15 in the final D3hoops.com weekly poll prior to the NCAA Tournament, while Wittenberg came in at No. 22 and North Central (Ill.) No. 23 ... Senior forward Justin Hallowell (Columbus, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) is closing in on the 1,500-point milestone, currently with 1,479. He's the Scots' 10th all-time leading scorer and only seven have reached 1,500 previously ... Senior guard Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) ranks eighth in school history in career 3-pointers made with 189.