Scots Hit 20-Win Mark for 24th Straight Season, Top Denison 74-62 in NCAC Semifinals

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – One of the most remarkable streaks in all of college basketball continued on Friday evening, as The College of Wooster men's basketball team extended its streak of 20-win seasons to 24 with a 74-62 win over Denison University in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Pam Evans Smith Arena.

Now Wooster (20-7) is set to face its archrival Wittenberg University (26-1) in Saturday's 4 p.m. championship game at Pam Evans Smith Arena. Ticket sales for the 122nd all-time meeting in one of small college basketball's greatest rivalries start at 2 p.m.

The decisive stretch in Friday's semifinal started when junior Keonn Scott's one-handed floater from the middle of the key fell, and that upped Wooster's lead to 60-54 with 7:35 remaining. Scott had the shooter's touch with 3:38 to go, when his baseline jumper hit the rim twice before falling in. That bucket all but put the game out of reach, as it capped an 8-0 run that saw Wooster's lead increase to 66-54.

Denison (11-16), which pulled within 58-54 on Kevin Cheng's lay-in at the 8:03 mark, didn't score again until Freeman Brou's free throw with 3:20 to go. Scott had a steal during the Big Red's near-five-minute scoring drought, while sophomore JG Gillard drew a key charge with 4:03 left in the game.

Earlier in the second half, Wooster scored nine points in a 58-second stretch. Senior Trenton Tipton's stick-back that turned into an old-fashion three-point play capped the scoring blitz, and put Wooster up 54-44 with 10:45 remaining.

With senior Danyon Hempy leading the way in the first half, Wooster had success early on offense. The senior scored six points during the Scots' 13-2 stretch. Sophomore Hamilton Johnson capped the run with a banked-in three-pointer, and at that point, Wooster led 16-7 with 12:25 to go in the opening stanza.

Defensively, Wooster was aggressive early, and that equated to five Denison turnovers in the opening six minutes. Sophomore Khaylen Mahdi stripped Will Hunter near the basket on the game's opening possession, and later Scott came away with a steal on a deflection. In fact, Scott had a second steal near the basket just before Johnson's triple.

Denison caught fire late in the first half with a 9-0 stretch, and Connor Fenton's runner from outside the paint tied the game at 29 with 1:21 left. The Big Red's lack of turnovers played a key role in Denison working its way back into the mix. After five early turnovers, the Big Red just had one miscue over the final 14 minutes in the opening stanza.

Wooster took a 34-30 lead into halftime, thanks to Hempy's pull-up three-pointer inside the final 10 seconds.

Hempy scored a game-high 26 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and the psychology major was a perfect 11-of-11 at the charity stripe. He's now at 644 points on the season, the third-most in program history.

Williams (13) and Scott (10) reached double digits in the scoring column. Sophomore Najee Hardaway, Tipton, and Williams secured six rebounds apiece.

Wooster shot 45.3 percent (24-of-53) for the game, was a remarkable 21-of-25 at the charity stripe, and had a five-rebound advantage.

Cheng scored 18 points to lead Denison. He was 7-of-8 from the floor, including a 4-of-4 mark from beyond the arc. Fenton secured a game-high nine rebounds.

Denison shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) from the floor, but was just 5-of-11 at the charity stripe.

Wittenberg ran away from Oberlin College (15-12) 67-47 in Friday's first semifinal game. James Johnson led the Tigers with 22 points and nine rebounds. He was 7-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-8 from three-point land.

Of note, Wooster will make its 27th appearance in the NCAC Tournament title game on Saturday. The Scots are 16-10 all-time in NCAC title games.