Wooster Turns Away Wabash, Advances to Saturday’s NCAC Championship

GRANVILLE, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's basketball team pulled ahead of Wabash College on a 19-4 run in the second half and never looked back, taking Friday's North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinal 73-57 at Denison University's Livingston Gymnasium. Wooster will play host Denison University, which won Friday's second semifinal 67-62.

Wooster (21-6) found itself down 38-33 following Wabash's (17-9) 5-0 opening run in the second half. Junior Jaiden Cox-Holloway stared down, then knocked down, an open triple to start the decisive 19-4 stretch. An Ashton Price steal-turned-layup tied the game at 38, then senior Nick Everett kept possession with Wooster with one of his team-high nine rebounds. Cox-Holloway cashed in on the second-chance opportunity, hitting a contested 3-pointer, that marked the go-ahead bucket with 15:51 remaining.

First-year Breckman Oakley found an open Jamir Billings for a 3-pointer that made it 46-42 at 13:24. Price came away with a steal on Wabash's next possession, then the 3-pointers kept coming, as Billings found junior Isaac Roeder open for one on the wing. Next, junior EJ Kapihe kicked the ball out to the perimeter, where Price was waiting for a 3-pointer that upped Wooster's lead to 52-42 at 11:45.

Later, Oakley was lurking in the passing lane with about 9:35 remaining, leading to an interception on a Randy Kelley pass. The Fighting Scots' first-year alertly whipped the ball off another Little Giant to keep possession with Wooster.  Sparked by the heads-up play, Wooster eventually pushed the lead back to double digits for good when Billings hit a jumper that made it 63-52 with just north of 5:00 remaining.

Friday's semifinal was essentially clinched with 3:01 remaining. Billings stripped the ball from Josh Whack, leading to an eventual Wabash foul. Senior JJ Cline knocked down the free throws to extend Wooster's lead to 67-52.

Wooster rallied back from a 32-26 deficit to tie Friday's semifinal at 33 at halftime. Coming out of a timeout, a driving Isaiah Johnson sucked the help side defender away from Kapihe, leaving the forward open for an easy layup. Next, Oakley denied Rich Brooks at the rim before knocking down a triple to pull Wooster within 32-31. Wooster led 33-31 on Johnson's floater before Noah Hupmann split a pair of free throws to tie Friday's game at halftime.

Billings was Wooster's star, scoring a game-high 18 points to move into the program's top-20 for career scoring. Billings' 18 points were paired with eight rebounds, eight assists, and four steals. The senior moved into the top-15 in NCAA Div. III history in steals and tied his single-season program record for steals at 84. This is the third time Billings has 84 steals in a season, a total he previously had as a first-year and junior. He is two steals shy of tying the NCAC career record.

Price followed Billings with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Cox-Holloway scored 13 points, Cline had 10 in the scoring column, and Everett led Wooster with nine rebounds.

Wooster shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64) for the game and had just seven turnovers.

Vinny Buccilla's 19 points were the game-high. Whack added 13 points for Wabash. Hupmann led all players with 13 points and three blocked shots.

Wabash shot 35.7 percent (20-of-56) for the game and was just 5-of-24 on 3-pointers for a shade above 20 percent.

Saturday marks Wooster's 26th time playing for the NCAC Tournament title in the last 28 conference tournaments. Wooster is making its sixth straight tournament final appearance and is seeking its NCAC-leading 18th tournament title.