Scots Win 25th Straight NCAC Quarterfinal, 86-79

WOOSTER, Ohio – Sophomore Elijah Meredith put the exclamation point on The College of Wooster men's basketball team's 25th consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal win with 1:04 remaining, and the Fighting Scots advanced to Friday's semifinals with an 86-79 win over Allegheny College on Tuesday evening at Timken Gymnasium.

Second-seeded Wooster (18-8) will take on sixth-seeded DePauw University (11-13) in Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal game at Wabash College's Chadwick Court. DePauw upset third-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University (15-11) 81-71 earlier on Tuesday. Host Wabash (22-3) cruised past Hiram College (9-17) 101-79 in the one-eight matchup, while fifth-seeded Denison University (13-12) dispatched fourth-seeded Wittenberg University 62-58 in Tuesday's other quarterfinals. The Little Giants and Big Red will square off in Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal, with the championship game slated for 4 p.m. on Saturday at Chadwick Court.

Meredith's anticipation resulted in Wooster's forward jumping in the passing lane with about 1:10 remaining. Allegheny (8-14) star Brian Roberts, Jr. was too late to react, with his pass already sent off. Meredith gathered it in, then beat the Gators' speedster down the floor for a fast-break dunk at the 1:04 mark. Roberts, Jr. nearly caught up to Meredith, and bumped him while he was in the dunking motion, and that resulted in a three-point play opportunity. Meredith's free throw upped Wooster's lead to 83-72.

Of late, Wooster's quarterfinal success has been partially attributed to a bench player stepping up in an outcome-altering way. In 2018, alumnus Blake Blair came through with 14 points and four rebounds during Wooster's 70-63 win over DePauw. A year later, then-first-year Khaylen Mahdi filled that role with 16 points and four assists in Wooster's 91-89 win over Allegheny. Two years ago, then-sophomore Najee Hardaway keyed the Scots with 12 points, five assists, and four rebounds in Wooster's 92-66 win over Allegheny. On Tuesday, sophomore Nick Everett emerged in that role, finishing with a career-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

Everett had his way against Allegheny, especially in the second half, when he finished 4-of-4 from the floor and 2-of-2 at the line in just over seven minutes of action. He worked the high-low game with Meredith, with bucket one staking Wooster to a 48-38 lead with the clock showing 15:57. Next, he fed a cutting Brandon Styers, and the Scots' senior upped the lead to 12. Later, Everett flashed his speed after a defensive rebound, as he was down the floor ahead of the Gators for a fast-break dunk that put Wooster back up 10 at the 14:10 mark. Two fast break free throws following an Everett steal and a layup at the 7:03 mark capped the sophomore's second-half scoring.

Allegheny kept things from getting out of hand down the stretch, and was within two with 8:49 remaining. In fact, Allegheny was within a single possession two other times after that before Meredith knocked down a triple prior to his dunk that made it 80-72 with 1:24 to go.

Wooster trailed by as many as six in the first half before the Scots' three-point shooting found its groove. Mahdi's triple gave Wooster a 22-20 edge with 8:56 to go, then Styers drilled the go-ahead three-ball on the next possession. Wooster went on to take a 41-29 lead into halftime, thanks to first-year Jamir Billings' second steal of the night. Styers emerged from the transition scramble with a wide-open layup following Billings' swipe.

Meredith's 21 points led the Scots. He finished 8-of-15 from the floor. Junior Turner Kurt spearheaded Wooster's 43-30 rebounding advantage with 14 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive glass. He had a double-double with 16 points and also passed out three assists. Everett had three rebounds, two assists, and two steals to go with his 17 points, while Styers contributed 15 points and seven rebounds.

Billings passed out five assists, upping his season mark to 154, which is now the second-most in single-season program history. Wooster's record-holder for single-season steals added two, upping his haul to 82.

Wooster shot 50.8 percent (31-of-61) for the game, 36.4 percent (8-of-22) on three-pointers, and 57.1 percent (16-of-28) at the line.

Roberts, Jr.'s 23 points marked the game-high. He went 10-of-20 from the floor. Caden Hinckley added 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Allegheny shot 43.9 percent (29-of-66), was 6-of-21 on three-pointers, and went 15-of-21 from the line.

Of note, Wooster's run of consecutive full seasons with at least 18 victories is now at 33.