Ben Blotner
Senior Sports Writer
The College of Wooster men’s basketball team clinched the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship with a win on Saturday, Feb. 13 at Timken Gymnasium. Coming off a loss that snapped a 12-game winning streak, the Fighting Scots bounced back, defeating the Oberlin College Yeomen 94-86 to continue their red-hot finish to the regular season.
“It is really good to have won the regular-season NCAC championship, as that is our first goal every season,” said Head Coach Steve Moore. “Our players are not satisfied, however, and the next goal is to win the conference tournament championship, which carries with it an automatic bid into the national tournament. Our players have done a fine job this year so far but are motivated to accomplish more.” The NCAC title is Wooster’s first since the 2015-16 season, and the Scots finish the regular season as the one-seed in the conference for the first time since 2013-14. The win was their 20th, marking the 23rd consecutive season the Scots have won at least that many games. In the NCAA, only Duke University and the University of Kansas currently have longer streaks of 20-win seasons.
Wooster fell behind early in the game, as Oberlin took 4-1 and 7-4 leads in the opening minutes before three-pointers by Trey Miller ’19 and Keonn Scott ’21 drew Wooster even twice. The teams went back and forth, with Trenton Tipton ’20 and Reece Dupler ’19 eventually helping the Scots jump out to a lead. Wooster led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but Oberlin rallied and cut the deficit to 44-38 by halftime.
At the start of the second half, a pair of baskets from Dontae Williams ’21 helped Wooster extend the lead back to nine before Danyon Hempy ’20 drained a three to make it 55-43. Oberlin would make it a seven-point game, but Wooster continued to roll, taking its biggest lead of the night on another Scott three-pointer that made it 77-63.
The Yeomen got some impressive deep shooting of their own from Joshua Friedkin ’20, who drained a trio of threes late to get his team back within five. They never got any closer, however, as Wooster easily held on in the final minutes for an eight-point victory. The Scots received the usual production from their top two scorers all season, Dupler and Hempy. Dupler led all players with 26 points, while Hempy dropped in 15.
However, Wooster got almost as much out of two reserves who have been emerging as key pieces of the team’s offense. Scott contributed 15 points and Tipton put 16 on the board. These players may help give Wooster a more balanced attack during its playoff run.
“This season has been a lot of fun and so far has been one to remember,” said Brandon Styers ’22. “Every guy has come to practice and worked as hard as he could day in and day out in order to put us in the position we are in. We couldn’t have accomplished what we have so far without the support of Woo Nation. We have come a long way and there is still along way to go.”
Wooster finished the regular season with an 81-70 win against the DePauw University Tigers on Saturday, Feb. 16. They faced The Allegheny College Gators at home on Tuesday, Feb. 19 and won 91-89. The Scots will play The DePauw University Tigers next in the semifinals. Roll Scots!