Wooster Hangs On, Tops DePauw in Overtime for 27th Straight NCAC Quarterfinal Win

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's basketball team survived a wild ending stretch of regulation, then went on a 7-0 run in overtime to turn away DePauw University 83-80 in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday evening at Timken Gymnasium.

Second-seeded Wooster (17-9) advances to play third-seeded Wittenberg University (18-8) at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23 at Wabash College's Chadwick Court. Top-seeded Wabash (18-8) and fourth-seeded Denison University (15-11) play in Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal game. The two winners play for the NCAC Tournament title and the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Div. III Championships field at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Wabash.

The key momentum shifter in overtime occurred when DePauw's (12-14) Grant Niego was whistled for an offensive foul for too much contact into Wooster senior JJ Cline. That whistle occurred with 1:23 on the clock, and after offensive rebounds, sophomore EJ Kapihe's stick back put Wooster up 78-74 inside a minute. Junior Jamir Billings went 5-of-6 at the line down the stretch to close out the victory.

DePauw's Reph Stevenson missed both free throws with 38 seconds remaining, then the Tigers did not foul right away. Wooster, up four at the time, was able to work about 15 seconds off the game clock before Niego grabbed hold of Billings. After Billings upped the lead to six, DePauw again was slow to react, this time on offense. Caleb Washington was forced to launch up a three-pointer over sophomore Jaiden Cox-Holloway in the final 15 seconds.

In regulation, Billings looked for senior Nick Everett down low with about 8.5 seconds remaining, but the pass did not get there due to Stevenson deflecting it. The Tigers' forward dove on the floor and secured the loose ball before DePauw called timeout. Niego sprung free on a drive, forcing Billings to foul with three seconds remaining. Niego tied the game at 72 before junior Ashton Price's game-winning three-pointer from just shy of halfcourt hit the upper half of the backboard.

Price helped Wooster to a 68-58 lead with 5:28 remaining in regulation. His floater in transition following a DePauw turnover upped the lead to seven, then Billings found the junior open on the wing for a three-pointer on the next possession. DePauw cut the deficit down to a single possession on Niego's free throws with 2:09 on the clock.

Everett was a perfect 11-of-11 from the field on his way to a career-high 26 points. The senior did the majority of his damage in the second half, dropping in 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting and a 4-of-5 ledger at the charity stripe. His eight rebounds were the game-high and the senior recorded two of Wooster's six blocked shots.

Price followed in the scoring column with 12 points, while Cox-Holloway's timely corner three-pointers helped the forward to 11 points. Sophomore Isaac Roeder emerged as the quarterfinal-altering bench contributor, scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Billings passed out 10 assists, matching the program's NCAC Tournament single-game record. The junior now has 151 helpers on the year, the fourth-most in single-season history.

Wooster, which entered the day with the third-highest field-goal percentage in Div. III, improved on the season average of 50.1 percent with a 54.2 percent (32-of-59) success rate on Tuesday. Wooster was 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) on three-pointers and outscored DePauw 38-26 in the paint.

Niego and Washington combined for 41 points for DePauw. Washington did most of his scoring from range, going 6-of-12 from downtown.

As a team, DePauw shot 42.2 percent (27-of-64) and outrebounded Wooster 32-31.

Wooster, playing Friday to match the longest winning streak in series history with Wittenberg at eight games, is meeting up with the Tigers for the 16th time in NCAC Tournament history. Friday's showdown is just the second of the 16 to take place in the semifinals. Wooster, which is 10-5 against Wittenberg in the NCAC Tournament, won the 2013 semifinal over the Tigers 78-66 at Timken Gymnasium.

Of note, Wooster has won its NCAC Tournament quarterfinal game in 27 straight seasons.