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| Blake Southerland |
Wooster Game Notes - NCAC Tournament Quarterfinals
Outlook: The College of Wooster men's basketball team (18-7, 12-6 North Coast Athletic Conference) is the third seed for this week's NCAC Tournament, and will host sixth-seeded Allegheny College (14-11, 8-10 NCAC) in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 25. The winner will advance to Friday's semifinal game against the winner of second-seeded Wabash College (17-8, 13-5 NCAC) and seventh-seeded Denison University (10-15, 7-11 NCAC). The winners of quarterfinal games between top-seeded Wittenberg University (24-1, 17-1 NCAC) and eighth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University (12-13, 7-11 NCAC) and fourth-seeded DePauw University (14-11, 11-7 NCAC) and fifth-seeded Oberlin College (14-11, 8-10 NCAC) are set to meet in Friday's other semifinal game. The highest remaining seed after Tuesday's quarterfinals are complete will serve as the host for Friday's semifinal games and Saturday's championship game.
Media Coverage: Tuesday's game will be streamed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wooster. MCTV customers living in Wayne and Stark Counties can catch the first replay at 10 p.m. on Ch. 22. Mike Breckenridge's call of Wooster's games can be heard all season long on WQKT 104.5 FM and online at https://wqkt.com. Fans can also follow the live stats link on Wooster's men's basketball schedule page and check for periodic score updates on the men's basketball team's Twitter account @ScotsBasketball.
Ticket Information: Ticket prices for the NCAC Tournament are set by the conference office. For the quarterfinals, ticket prices are $7 for adults and $5 for children (18 & under), holders of a NCAC guest pass, and students who do not have their student ID card. NCAC students are admitted free of charge, but must have a valid student ID card from a NCAC institution.
NCAC Tournament History: Wooster has won the NCAC Tournament a league-best 16 times. Wittenberg is next with eight tournament crowns, while Ohio Wesleyan is in third-place with five. Wooster's a remarkable 72-19 all-time in the NCAC Tournament, and is 56-10 when playing at Timken Gymnasium. Wooster's 30-5 all-time in the quarterfinals, and the Scots have won their quarterfinal game in 23 consecutive years. Last year, Wooster survived Allegheny's upset bid to win 91-89 in the quarterfinals. The Scots went on to beat DePauw 73-52 in the semifinals before falling to Wittenberg 79-75 in the championship game. Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan are the only teams to appear in every single NCAC Tournament.
Talking Seeds: This year is the first time since 1997 where Wooster isn't the No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the NCAC Tournament. In 1997, the third-seeded Scots beat Ohio Wesleyan 70-45 in the quarterfinals, Denison 68-64 in the semifinals, and top-seeded Wittenberg 51-44 in the championship game. Wooster's won two NCAC Tournaments when seeded third, with the other coming in 1993. Wooster beat fifth-seeded Kenyon College 64-48 that year in the championship game.
A Brief Look at Allegheny: Wooster leads the all-time series with Allegheny 75-19. The series dates back to the 1905-06 season. Allegheny won the last meeting 89-84 on January 29, 2020, with the victory snapping Wooster's impressive 48-game series winning streak. Allegheny's won its last three games, including Saturday's game at Kenyon 100-77. The Gators are led by senior Jordan Rawls, who is the only player in the NCAC to rank in the top five in both scoring (19.6 points per game) and rebounding (9.5 per game).
Swan Song: The 2019-20 season is Steve Moore's 33rd, and final, season leading the Scots' storied program. Moore announced last March that he'll retire at the conclusion of the 2019-20 academic year. Moore, who was the head coach at Muhlenberg College for six seasons prior to arriving in Wooster in advance of the 1987-88 season, is No. 12 all-time in NCAA men's basketball coaching victories with 864 (864-252). He's 777-187 at Wooster, and is No. 2 all-time in NCAA Div. III coaching wins. Moore-coached Wooster teams have made 27 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a Div. III record 17 straight (2003-present). Wooster's won a NCAC-leading 18 titles with Moore at the helm of the program. Moore was a 2020 nominee for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was a 2019 inductee to the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.
Scots Need Two More to Keep the 20 Streak Alive: Wooster enters the NCAC Tournament with 18 wins on the season. Should Wooster get to 20 this year, that will give the Scots a remarkable 24th consecutive 20-win season, and move the program back into a tie with Duke University for the second-longest active streak in NCAA men's basketball. The University of Kansas recorded its 31st consecutive 20-win season this year, while Gonzaga University has won at least 20 games in 23 straight seasons.
Hempy One of Wooster's Best: Senior Danyon Hempy (Waldo, Ohio/River Valley) will be remembered as one of Wooster's best players. He's fourth all-time in program history with 1,924 points, trailing the likes of W Association Hall of Famers Tom Dinger (2,370 points), James Cooper (2,037 points), and Bryan Nelson (1,957 points). Hempy's one of four players in program history with multiple 500-point seasons (Dinger, Cooper, and Ian Franks are the others). Should he get to 600 points this year (currently at 583), he'll join Dinger, a 1971 alumnus, as the only players in program history with multiple 600-point years. This year, Hempy's leading the NCAC with 23.3 points per game, and last year, he became just the second Moore-coached player to average 20 points per game for the season. Nelson averaged 20.8 points per game during the 2002-03 season, the year he was tabbed as the National Association of Basketball Coaches National Player of the Year. In his last outing, Hempy scored a career-high 40 points, with that marking just the sixth 40-point game in the storied program's history.
Vote For Hempy: Speaking of Hempy, Wooster's senior needs your help. He's one of the quarterfinalists in this year's "Dark Horse Dunker" competition, with the winner going on to compete in the State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships in April in Atlanta, Georgia. Fans can vote once per day, per device, at darkhorsedunker.com. The quarterfinal round ends at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 26. Should Hempy win his matchup, semifinal voting will start at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 27 at darkhorsedunker.com.
Williams Settled In at Wooster: Junior Dontae Williams (Girard, Pa./Girard) made an immediate impact last year after transferring in from NCAA Div. II Mercyhurst University. The forward's blossomed even more this season and spent time ranked No. 1 nationally in field-goal percentage earlier this year. Williams is in the top 10 in the NCAC in scoring and rebounding, and he recently matched his career-high in scoring (25) and set a new one in rebounding (15) against Denison on February 12.
Threes in Bunches: Junior Keonn Scott (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) has hit at least six triples in five games this year. Scott was the Most Outstanding Player at the 57th annual E.M. "Mose" Hole/Wooster Kiwanis Classic, where he scored a career-high 29 points in an 87-82 win over Whitworth University. He's tied for the conference lead in three-pointers this season with 74.
Down to the Wire: The margin of victory in 13 of Wooster's 25 games this season has been five or fewer. Wooster's 8-5 in games where that's the case this year. Wooster last had 10 or more games with a maximum margin of victory of five during the 2013-14 season. The Scots were 7-4 in tight games that year.
Notable Wooster Alumni in Basketball: Wooster has several notable alumni currently in, or have held, prominent coaching and administrative roles in collegiate and professional basketball. L.W. St. John '06 served as head men's basketball coach at Ohio State University from 1911-19, and was the Buckeyes' athletic director for over 30 years. Reggie Minton '63, an alternate for the 1964 United States Olympic Team, went on to have a decorated career as a coach and administrator, and he's currently the deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), and prior to that, was the head coach at the United States Air Force Academy from 1984-00. Larry Shyatt '73 was an assistant coach at numerous programs, including the University of Florida when the Gators won the NCAA Div. I national championship in 2006 and 2007. Shyatt had two stints as head coach at the University of Wyoming and was the man in charge at Clemson University for a five-year run. Presently, Shyatt's an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. Recent alumni in prominent coaching roles include Lamont Paris '96 and Ryan Pedon '00. Paris was on the staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven seasons, during which the Badgers made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four (2014-15), including the 2015 title game. Paris is currently in his third year as the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Pedon is in his third year as the lead assistant at Ohio State, which was ranked as high as second this season in the AP Top 25.