CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana – The College of Wooster men's basketball team's late pressure briefly caused problems for Wabash College, however, the Fighting Scots' final surge was not enough, as the Little Giants won their third straight North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament 75-64 on Saturday afternoon at Chadwick Court.
The heartbreaking loss concludes Wooster's season at 18-10. Of note, this year marked Wooster's 35th straight year with at least 18 wins, and the Scots have ended their season in either the NCAA Div. III Championships or the NCAC Tournament championship game each year there has been a postseason since the 1994-95 campaign.
Wooster senior Nick Everett broke the NCAC and program field-goal percentage records, finishing with a 72.8 (134-of-184) make rate. That bested the 69.6 percent (128-of-184) clip Matt Schlingman posted in the 2004-05 season. Junior Jamir Billings tied his single-season record with 84 steals and his 164 assists came up two shy of Sam Dixon's school record from the 1978-79 season. Ironically, Billings finished with the exact same assist and steal total as when he was a first-year.
Wooster got within 71-64 with 1:40 to go. Wabash could not handle Wooster's press, and that led to an overpass when the Little Giants looked to feed the ball to Ahmoni Jones in transition. Billings scooped up the loose ball and fed it to junior Ashton Price, who canned the transition triple. Wabash settled down from there to secure the victory.
Saturday's battle featured nine lead changes and five ties. Wooster's final lead of the contest came when Price hit from deep to make it 40-39 at the 19:09 mark. Jones, who was the tournament's Al Van Wie Most Valuable Player, answered right back with one of his six triples. The score was tied at 42 following a driving layup by senior Nick Everett. Jones again had the answer, then Vinny Buccilla's driving layup upped Wabash's lead to 47-42 with 16:59 remaining.
The bank was open for sophomore EJ Kapihe as the clock hit 14:47. The sophomore had to go high off the glass to get the turnaround jumper to fall over the 7-2 Noah Hupmann. Kapihe's bucket made it 47-44.
Sophomore Jaiden Cox-Holloway had Wooster within three one final time. His layup made it a 59-56 game with 6:36 remaining.
Cox-Holloway was the offensive juggernaut early for Wooster from both outside and inside. The sophomore's 16 points led the Scots, and he finished a rebound shy of a double-double. Billings added 12 points, seven assists, and two steals. Everett was the other Scot in double figures with 10 points and four rebounds.
Wooster, which was represented by Everett and Price on the all-tournament team, shot 43.3 percent (26-of-60) for the game, was 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) on three-pointers, and blocked seven shots, with two each by Kapihe and Price.
Jones' 22 points led all players. He was backed up by 16 points from Buccilla and 15 from Avery Beaver. Hupmann, who broke the NCAC record for most blocked shots in a tournament, joined Jones on the all-tournament team. He blocked five shots and had 11 rebounds to go with seven points.
Wabash shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) for the game, was a stellar 58.3 percent (14-of-24) on three-pointers, and outrebounded Wooster 40-31.
Denison University's Cameron Smith and Wittenberg University's Trey Killens rounded out the all-tournament team.
Of note, Saturday's final marked just the second time the same teams met up in three consecutive tournament championship games. Wabash joins Wooster's 1999-01 and 2009-12 teams as the only ones in NCAC history to win at least three straight men's basketball tournaments.
