2020 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament Champions
WOOSTER
| 2020 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament |
| Quarterfinals: |
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Semifinals: |
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Championship: |
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Tuesday, February 25
(at higher seeds)
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Friday, February 28
(at #1 Wittenberg) |
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Saturday, February 29
(at #1 Wittenberg) |
| #1 Wittenberg 69, #8 Ohio Wesleyan 55 - {Boxscore} |
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#1 Wittenberg 67, #5 Oberlin 47 - {Boxscore} |
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#3 Wooster 87, #1 Wittenberg 63 {Boxscore} |
| #7 Denison 75, #2 Wabash 69 - {Boxscore} |
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#3 Wooster 74, #7 Denison 62 - {Boxscore} |
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| #3 Wooster 92, #6 Allegheny 66 - {Boxscore} |
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| #5 Oberlin 75, #4 DePauw 63 - {Boxscore} |
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| Bracket -- Stats -- Tickets -- Directions -- Merchandise -- NCAC Tournament Records |
FINALS:
Third-seeded Wooster (21-7) captured the 2020 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament title after knocking off top-seeded and No. 4-ranked Wittenberg (26-2) by a 87-63 margin on Saturday afternoon at Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, Ohio. As tournament champions, the Fighting Scots have earned the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament, which will open with first and second round games next weekend on campus sites.
Wooster jumped out of the gate with a 7-0 lead, thanks to a three from junior Trenton Tipton (St. Clairesville, OH/Union Local) and a pair of baskets from senior Danyon Hempy (Walso, OH/River Valley). The Tigers battled back to tie the game at 12 after James Johnson (Cincinnati, OH/Roger Bacon) connected on a layup with 10:43 remaining in the half. The two teams were still locked up with under two minutes in the half, tied at 32, when a Tipton three and a Keon Scott (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Cardinal Gibbons) bucket extended the lead to five, 37-32. Wittenberg senior Connor Seipel (Columbus, OH/Groveport Madison) scored as the buzzer went off to make the score 37-34 at the break. After halftime, the Fighting Scots came out on a 22-11 run in the opening 10 minutes to go up 59-45. The lead was pushed to 20 points, 67-47, after a pair of Hempy free throws with 8:03 remaining in play. The Fighting Scots would go on to take the game, 87-63.
After recording 29 points, five assists, two rebounds and two steals in the championship game, Wooster's Hempy collected the Al Van Wie Award as the tournament's most valuable player. In the three tournament games combined, Hempy scored a conference tournament record 90 points, pulled in 11 rebounds, dished seven assists and recorded two steals. He also scored his 2,000th career point in the game with his first basket in the second half.
Joining Hempy on the 2020 NCAC Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team was Tipton along with Wittenberg's Seipel and Johnson, Oberlin senior Christian Fioretti (Menlo Park, CA/Menlo-Atherton) and Denison junior Conor Fenton (Modesto, CA/Central Catholic).
2020 NCAC Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team
Conor Fenton, Denison
Christian Fioretti, Oberlin
James Johnson, Wittenberg
Connor Seipel, Wittenberg
Trenton Tipton, Wooster
Tournament MVP (Al Van Wie Award) – Danyon Hempy, Wooster
SEMIFINALS:
The finals are set for the 2020 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament with Wooster and Wittenberg to meet for the title on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 4:00 p.m. at Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, Ohio. The Fighting Scots will be playing in the championship game for the 27th time in program history, while the Tigers will be playing in the title game for the 18th time.
In the first semifinal game of the night, top-seeded Wittenberg (26-1) advanced to the championship game with a 67-47 victory over fifth-seeded Oberlin (15-12). The Tigers started the game on a 16-6 run which was capped off by a Rashaad Ali-Shakir (Cincinnati, OH/Purcell Marian) jumper. The Yeomen answered with an 11-4 run of their own, aided by a two Christian Fioretti (Menlo Park, CA/Menlo-Atherton) buckets, cutting the deficit to 20-17. That gap widened back to eight by halftime as Wittenberg went to the locker room up, 30-22. After the break, Wittenberg scored the first seven points of the second half on baskets by James Johnson (Cincinnati, OH/Roger Bacon), Connor Seipel (Columbus, OH/Groveport Madison) and Jake Bertemes (Springfield, OH/Southeastern), going up 37-22. The Yeomen managed to make a run midway through the second half, cutting the Wittenberg lead to 44-36, but couldn't complete the comeback, falling to the Tigers. Wittenberg's Johnson led all scorers with 22 points, while also adding nine rebounds. Bertemes, Seipel and Ali-Shakir also added 11 points each for the Tigers. Fioretti led Oberlin with 11 points, while Charles Tiedmann (New York, NY/Grace Church School) also reached double-figures in scoring, tallying 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
In the second semifinal game, the third-seeded Wooster Fighting Scots (20-7) outlasted the seventh-seeded Denison Big Red (11-16), 74-62, to advance to the championship game. Up 9-7 early, Wooster issued seven straight points, capped off with a Hamilton Johnson (Winter Haven, FL/Frostproof) three-pointer, pushing the Fighting Scots' lead to 16-7. Denison managed to pull back to even at 29 on a Conor Fenton (Modesto, CA/Central Catholic) bucket with 1:21 remaining in the first half. Keonn Scott (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Cardinal Gibbons) gave the Fighting Scots back a 31-29 lead, spurring a 9-1 run that spilled over into the second half. The Big Red were within four, 58-54 with 8:03 remaining, before six-straight from the Fighting Scots pushed the lead to double-digits, where it would remain. Wooster senior Danyon Hempy (Waldo, OH/River Valley) posted a game-high 26 points, including 11 from the charity stripe. Dontae Williams (Girard, PA/Girard) and Scott also recorded double-digit efforts, scoring 13 and 10, respectively. The Big Red were led by Kevin Cheng's (Elmhurst, IL/IC Catholic Prep) 18 points, followed by Fenton's 12 and Freeman Brou's (Richmond, IN/Northeastern) 10 points.
QUARTERFINALS:
All the odd-seeded teams won in the quarterfinal round of the 2020 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament. Top-seeded Wittenberg (25-1) will host the "final four" Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28-29, at Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, Ohio. The Tigers will face fifth-seeded Oberlin (15-11) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, while the second semifinal will feature third-seeded Wooster (19-7) and seventh-seeded Denison (11-15) at 7:30 p.m. The semifinal winners will play in the tournament championship game at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday in Springfield.
The Wittenberg Tigers prevailed at home Tuesday against No. 8-seeded Ohio Wesleyan (12-14), 69-55. The teams battled closely early on; tied at 12 after Wittenberg's Landon Martin (Columbus, OH/Africentric) connected on a triple with 11:11 remaining in the first half. Martin's three began a 25-10 Tiger run that gave Wittenberg a 37-22 advantage at halftime. The Battling Bishops outscored the Tigers 33-32 in the second half, but the first-half deficit proved to be too much. Connor Seipel (Columbus, OH/Groveport Madison) led the Tigers with a team-high 18 points and 25 rebounds, while Ohio Wesleyan's Jack Clement (Bellefontaine, OH/Bellefontaine) paced the Bishops with 16 points, three rebounds and two assists.
In Crawfordsville, Indiana, No. 7-seeded Denison knocked off No. 2-seeded Wabash (17-9), 75-69. The Big Red started hot as Kevin Cheng (Elmhurst, IL/Catholic Prep) and Conor Fenton (Modesto, CA/Central Catholic) combined for three triples to help Denison open up a 9-3 lead just three minutes into the game. Wabash rallied back, tying the game at 18 and trading the lead seven times with the Big Red before halftime. The Big Red owned a 39-36 lead at the break. In the second half, the two teams continued to trade baskets. Tied at 55 with 8:43 remaining, Wabash junior Jack Davidson (Fishers, IN/Fishers) connected on a three to give the Little Giants a three-point lead. Denison came back and took the lead for the final time on a Freeman Brou (Lawrence KS/Lawrence) three-pointer with 1:03 left in regulation, giving the Big Red a 69-66 advantage. Fenton led Denison with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting, also adding nine rebounds and two steals. Davidson led the Little Giants with 21 points and four rebounds.
The No. 3-seeded Wooster Fighting Scots bounced back against No. 6-seed Allegheny (14-12) after an 89-84 loss to the Gators in their last matchup on Jan. 29. Tuesday night, the Fighting Scots outlasted the Gators, 92-66, in what was a tight game early on. Tied at 23, Wooster's Najee Hardaway (Shaker Hts, OH/Shaker Heights) tallied a bucket that kickstarted a 17-7 run over the final 6:15 of the first half as the Fighting Scots took a 40-30 lead to the break. Wooster outscored Allegheny 52-36 in the second half en route to a 26-point win. Senior Danyon Hempy (Waldo, OH/River Valley) led the Fighting Scots with 35 points on 14-of-27 shooting, also adding six rebounds and an assist. Dontae Williams (Girard, PA/Girard) also poured in 18 points to go along a team-high 10 rebounds. Allegheny was led by Keeno Holmes (Pittsburgh, PA/Lincoln Park), who produced 20 points off the bench. Senior Jordan Rawls (Pittsburgh, PA/Taylor Allderdice) also added 16 points and five rebounds for the Gators.
Five Yeomen ended in double-figures on Tuesday as No. 5-seeded Oberlin went on the road and took down No. 4-seed DePauw (14-12), 75-63. It was the first NCAC tournament victory for Oberlin since 1992, after they defeated Allegheny 88-73 in the opening round. Wolf Moser (Sewickly, PA/Quaker Valley) paced the Yeomen, producing 17 points off the bench. Also posting double-digit scoring efforts were Andre Campbell (San Francisco, CA/Urban School) with 15, Joshua Friedkin (Emeryville, CA/Albany) with 13, Christian Fioretti (Menlo Park, CA/Menlo-Atherton) with 12 and Charles Tiedemann (New York, NY/Grace Church School) with 10. Oberlin's balanced attack started as four different players made the Yeomen's first four buckets, building up an early 9-4 lead. The lead stretched to 20-11 midway through the first half after Tiedemann drove to basket for two. DePauw made a run in the second half and pulled to within one, 47-46, after Ken Decker (Crown Point, IN/Crown Point) drained a three-pointer. However, back-to-back buckets by Oberlin's Jordan Armstrong (Sebastopol, CA/Analy) and Campbell pushed the lead back to five, 51-46. Nolan Ginther (Noblesville, IN/Noblesville) led the Tigers with 19 points, followed by Nick Felke (Plymouth, IN/Plymouth) with 16 and Decker with 12.
SEEDINGS & PAIRINGS:
Wittenberg has earned the top seed in the 2020 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal games at campus sites on Tuesday evening. The seeding follows the regular-season standings with the top four seeds hosting quarterfinal contests. The tie between Allegheny (8-10) and Oberlin (8-10) for fifth and the tie between Denison (7-11) and Ohio Wesleyan (7-11) for seventh were both broken via the conference tiebreaker system for seeding purposes only.
Wittenberg captured its 13th NCAC men's basketball title after finishing the 2019-20 regular season with a near-perfect 17-1 record against league foes. Wooster leads all NCAC men's squads with 18 titles all-time, while Ohio Wesleyan has won seven conference championships. Allegheny is the only other team to have won a conference championship with four all-time. The Battling Bishops and Gators shared the title in both 1986 and 1988, while Allegheny also shared the crown with Wooster in 1989 and Wittenberg in 1993.
Quarterfinal games will all be played on Tuesday, Feb. 25, with top-seeded Wittenberg hosting eighth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan at 8:00 p.m. and second-seeded Wabash (13-5) playing host to seventh-seeded Denison at 7:00 p.m. In the other quarterfinal matchups, third-seeded Wooster (12-6) hosts sixth-seeded Allegheny at 7:00 p.m., while fourth-seeded DePauw (11-7) entertains fifth-seeded Oberlin at 8:00 p.m. The quarterfinal games at DePauw and Wittenberg will be part of a doubleheader with the women, who will play prior to the men at 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday's winners will advance to the semifinals and championship on Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, Feb. 29, at the site of the highest remaining seed to emerge from the quarterfinal round. Semifinal games will be held on Friday with the host institution selecting its preferred time slot. The championship game is set for 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Please note, in low capacity gyms with less than 2,000 seats (OBE & WAB), the semifinal games will be played at 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., with the host institution choosing their preferred time slot. In this scenario, the gym will be cleared in between games and separate tickets will be required for both contests. In high capacity gyms with more than 2,000 seats (DPU, WIT & WOO), the semifinal games will be played at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. with the host institution choosing their preferred time slot. In this scenario, one ticket will be valid for both contests.
In the event that one institution hosts both the men's and women's "final four," the women's semifinals will be played on Thursday, Feb. 27, and the men's semifinals will be played on Friday. The championship games would then be played on Saturday with the women playing at 3:00 p.m. and the men at 7:00 p.m. In this scenario, the gym will be cleared in between games and separate tickets will be required for each contest.
This year's tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins with first-round play on March 6th and 7th.
TOURNEY NOTES: Wittenberg has won back-to-back NCAC Tournament Titles and eight overall, while Wooster has captured a league-leading 16 all-time ... The Tigers captured the 2019 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament title as the second seed after knocking off top-seeded Wooster by a 79-75 margin at Timken Gymnasium in Wooster, Ohio ... As the two seed, Wabash has now qualified for the tournament every year since joining the NCAC in the 1999-00 academic year. The Little Giants made back-to-back championship game appearances in 2008 and '09, falling to OWU in '08, 89-72, and dropping an 84-72 decision against Wooster the next year ... The No. 3 seeded Fighting Scots have won seven of the last 13 NCAC Tournaments, with Wittenberg, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw interrupting that string ... No. 4 DePauw, which won the tourney title in 2015 with a 69-56 win over OWU, returns to the field for the fourth year in a row and the eighth time in the last nine years ... Fifth-seeded Oberlin returns to the tournament this winter looking for its first win in the eight-team tournament since knocking off Allegheny by an 88-73 margin in the opening round in 1992 ... No. 6 Allegheny, which nearly caused an 8 vs. 1 upset in the quarterfinals a season ago after dropping a 91-89 decision to Wooster, will be making its second appearance in the tournament in five years ... Denison, which won the tourney title in 2016 with a 92-81 overtime victory over Wooster, enters the tournament as the seven seed after missing out on the tournament a season ago ... Ohio Wesleyan enters as the eighth seed and will look to advance to the semifinal round after falling to Wittenberg 73-51 in the quarterfinals last winter ... Wooster leads all men's teams with an .791 winning percentage (72-19) in tournament games. Wittenberg follows at .698 (51-22), while Ohio Wesleyan is next at .537 (36-31).