Wooster Earns At-Large Bid, to Face Misericordia in NCAA First Round at Marietta

The College of Wooster is part of the 2015 NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championship field, as the Fighting Scots received an at-large berth and will head to Marietta, Ohio, for first- and possibly second-round action this weekend, March 6-7. It marks the 13th consecutive season the Fighting Scots will play in the NCAA tourney – the longest active streak in Div. III. Wooster is paired against Misericordia University (21-6), champions out of the Freedom Conference, on the campus of Marietta College on Friday at 5 p.m. Host Marietta (25-3), which was an at-large selection after winning the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season championship, will match-up against Allegheny Mountatin Collegiate Conference Tournament winner Medaille College (19-9), and the two teams that advance from Friday's games will play each other on Saturday at 7 p.m., for the right to advance to the NCAA's sectional round (Round of 16).

Ticket Information: As determined by the NCAA, ticket prices for this weekend's opening rounds are $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens/students. There is no reserved seating at Marietta, and since Friday will be a split session, a ticket is only good for one game.

There will be advanced ticket sales for the Misericordia-Wooster game at the Scot Center on Wednesday from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. only, and tickets for that game will also be available on-site Friday, starting at 3:30 p.m.

On the Air: For fans unable to make it to Marietta's 1,457-seat Ban Johnson Arena, live video will be at https://www.boxcast.com/show/#/men-s-basketball-wooster-vs-misericordia.

There will be live stats as well at http://www.sidearmstats.com/marietta/mbball/.

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

NCAA Tourney Notes: The Scots are making their 24th appearance in the NCAA Div. III tourney. Only four others have been in as many – Hope College (24), Illinois Wesleyan University (24), University of Scranton (26), and Wittenberg University (27).

Wooster, which also played in two other NCAA Tournaments prior to Div. III (1971, 1973), has been in the national field 20 of the last 21 seasons and 23 times since 1990. The Scots' all-time record in the Div. III tourney is 30-24 – 22-8 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") nine times over the last 16 years, highlighted by runs to the 2011 national championship game and to the semifinals two other times (2003, 2007).

Against the 2015 NCAA Field: Wooster had very good in-season preparation for the 2015 NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championship, as it played seven games against teams that are now part of the field, going 4-3. At the Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic, the Scots edged the University of Mount Union 80-73 and rolled past Saint Vincent College 91-53. Within the highly-competitive North Coast Athletic Conference, Wooster took two from DePauw University during the regular season, 76-63 and 63-62, and was swept by eventual champion Ohio Wesleyan University, 92-89 and 92-85. In the NCAC Tournament championship, DePauw tripped up the Scots 69-56.

All-Time Series: Wooster has never played Misericordia or Medaille on the hardwood.

The Scots and Marietta have met 50 times, with Wooster ahead 30-20 in the all-time series. The two Ohio schools, separated by about 120 miles, matched up during the regular season each of the last two years, and Wooster emerged victorious in a pair of very close games – 81-78 at Marietta on Nov. 27, 2013 and 59-57 at Wooster on Dec. 29, 2012. Prior to that, though, they hadn't played since the 1992-93 season opener, an 87-62 Scot victory.

Head Coach Steve Moore: The architect behind the winningest NCAA men's basketball team of the 2000s (.845; 409-75) is Steve Moore. In addition to guiding Wooster to 409 victories this century, he carries a 28-year record of 667-150 (.816) 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 754-215 (.778), which puts him third all-time in wins for Div. III coaches. Moore has eight Coach-of-the-Year honors from the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Conference Tourney Recap: The second-seeded Scots reached the championship game of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the 18th time in the last 19 seasons, but finished runner-up this time.

On Feb. 24, Wooster rode a hot start to a resounding 106-68 quarterfinal victory over the No. 7 seed, Denison University, a squad that had upended the Scots just 17 days prior. Wooster scored on 12 of its first 13 possessions while building leads of 10-0, 24-5 just 5:21 into the action, and 29-9. It was a 62-35 halftime cushion, as the Scots made 71 percent of their field goals (23-for-32), and senior Evan Pannell (Akron, Ohio / Archbishop Hoban) had a 20-point half. Thirteen Wooster players ended up getting into the scoring column, led by Pannell's 23. Dan Fanelly (Uniontown, Ohio / Green) almost had a perfect night from the field (7-for-8) during a 17-point performance and he brought down a game-high 13 rebounds for a double-double, while Spencer Williams (Orange Village, Ohio / Orange) added 13 points.

On Feb. 27, the Scots trailed for long stretches of their semifinal game versus third-seeded Wabash College, then had a critical 12-4 run midway through the second half to take the lead and later used a couple of clutch shots to put away the Little Giants 68-55 on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. With several key Wooster players in foul trouble, Wabash led for all but a few possessions of the first half, including 25-23 at intermission, and stayed ahead the opening seven minutes of the second. The Scots then made their move, turning a 36-32 deficit into a 44-40 lead, and they extended their advantage, thanks to Pannell, who had a three-point play, steal and breakaway dunk, and 3-pointer during a 67-second stretch that put the scoreboard at 52-45 with 6:01 remaining. The Little Giants got to within four points a couple of times, but Fanelly and Williams answered as each hit a 3-pointer to bump the lead back to seven, and Wooster closed out with a number of free throws. Pannell had 21 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and two steals to lead the way, while Fanelly notched another double-double with 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Williams tossed in 14 – his highest scoring output in the month of February – and Xavier Brown (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green) 10 points.

On Feb. 28, DePauw University continued its impressive march through the NCAC tourney, using an 11-2 run midway through the second half to upend the Scots 69-56 in the finals, played on a neutral-site floor (Ohio Wesleyan). After going ahead on their first offensive series of the second half, the Tigers stayed up by one or two possessions until the midway point when they turned a 36-35 margin into a 47-37 cushion. DePauw stretched its advantage further to 52-39, then Brown gave Wooster life with a personal 6-0 run to make it a seven-point game at the 4:22 mark. Out of a timeout, the Tigers scored on back-to-back possessions, pushing their lead to double-digits and they added to it with effective free throw shooting down the stretch. The Scots, who didn't make a 3-pointer in a game for the first time during the 2000s, were paced by Brown and Pannell with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Josh Kipfer (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth) contributed 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

This and That: Wooster has extended its NCAA Div. III-leading streak of 20-win seasons to 19 ... This year's senior class, consisting of guard Xavier Brown (Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green), guard Jalen Goodwin (Liberty Twp., Ohio / Lakota East), and small forward Evan Pannell (Akron, Ohio / Archbishop Hoban), has put together a four-year record of 98-21 (.824) ... During the NCAC Tournament championship game, Brown reached 1,600 points (1,608) – something only five others have done in the Scots' tradition-rich men's basketball history. He also ranks seventh in school history in career steals (137) ... Alex LaLonde (Wooster, Ohio / Wooster) has developed into a block shot specialist, and his 45 this season put him 10th in team history ... Pannell was one of 16 finalists, and the only one from NCAA Div. III, in the annual State Farm "Dark Horse Dunker" competition.