2012-13 Men's Basketball Tournament

2013 Tournament Champions: Ohio Wesleyan

Quarterfinals:	Semifinals:	Championship:
Tuesday, Feb. 19	Friday, Feb. 22 (at Wooster)	Saturday, Feb. 23 (at Wooster)
#1 Wooster 74, #8 Oberlin 47 - Boxscore	Ohio Wesleyan 77, Kenyon 64 - Boxscore	Ohio Wesleyan 76, Wooster 66 - Boxscore
#2 Ohio Wesleyan 77, #7 Denison 56 - Boxscore	Ohio Wesleyan 77, Kenyon 64 - Boxscore
#3 Kenyon 77, #6 Wabash 72 - Boxscore	Wooster 78, Wittenberg 66 - Boxscore
#5 Wittenberg 63, #4 DePauw 62 - Boxscore	Wooster 78, Wittenberg 66 - Boxscore

Championship Update

Ohio Wesleyan (22-5), who entered the 2013 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament as the second seed, upended top-seeded Wooster (23-5), 76-66, to claim its fifth conference tourney crown, and first since 2008. The two teams battled through seven ties and six lead changes over the course of the night. The Battling Bishops finally took command of the game with a jumper by Dre White (Lima, OH/Bath) at the 6:44 mark of the second half, going up 54-53 and then holding off the Fighting Scots the rest of the way. Marshall Morris (Tulsa, OK/Jenks) paced OWU with 19 points; he was 6-for-9 from the floor and 4-of-5 from behind the arc. He also snagged four rebounds and hit all three of his free throws to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team. Andy Winters (Columbus, OH/Bishop Watterson) posted 17 points off 5-of-12 shooting from the floor. He hit two of three three-pointers and converted all five of his free throw attempts. He added seven boards, six assists and four steals to earn the Al Van Wie trophy as the tourney's most valuable performer. Wooster's Doug Thorpe (Columbus, OH Eastmoor Academy) led all scorers with 24 points. He shot 9-of-18 from the floor and chipped in five assists and four steals to earn a spot on the all-tourney squad. He was joined on the squad by teammate Evan Pannell (Akron, OH/Archbishop Hoban), along with Kenyon's Ikenna Mwadibia (San Francisco, CA/Stuart Hall) and Wittenberg's Scott Masin (New Carlisle, OH Bethel).

Ohio Wesleyan earns the NCAC's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament, which begins with first round games on Saturday, March 2. As the top-ranked team in the Great Lakes region entering this weekend, Wooster should also receive strong consideration for an at-large spot into the national tournament. The NCAA will announce the field on Monday, Feb. 25.

Semifinal Update:

Wooster (23-4), the top seed in the 2013 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament, defeated fifth-seeded Wittenberg (17-10) by a 78-66 margin to book its ticket to the tournament championship game for the 20th time in program history. The Fighting Scots will be looking for their fifth-straight tournament title tomorrow night when they take on second seed Ohio Wesleyan (21-5) at 7:00 p.m. at Timken Gymnasium in Wooster, Ohio.

Second-seeded Ohio Wesleyan (21-5) stormed out to an early lead and withstood a strong second half surge from the Lords en route to a 77-64 victory over third-seeded Kenyon (16-11) in the first NCAC Tournament semifinal contest on Friday evening at Wooster's Timken Gymnasium. With the victory, the Battling Bishops will make their first appearance in the tournament title game since the 2008 season when they hoisted the tournament trophy with an 89-72 triumph over Wabash.

Quarterfinal Recaps:

Top-seeded Wooster (22-4) led coast-to-coast and secured hosting rights for the semifinals and championship rounds of the 2013 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament with a 74-47 victory over eighth-seeded Oberlin (7-19) at Timken Gymnasium in Wooster, Ohio, on Tuesday evening. The Fighting Scots got double-digit scoring performances from its back court duo as junior Doug Thorpe (Columbus, OH/Eastmoor Acad.) and sophomore Xavier Brown (Bowling Green, OH/Bowling Green) scored 18 and 13 points, respectively, while senior Jake May (Tallmadge, OH/Tallmadge) led the Scots on the glass with eight rebounds. The Yeomen did get a solid performance from junior Geoff Simpson (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury) who scored 27 points after shooting 69 percent (9-of-13) from the field; however, no other Oberlin player reached double-digits in the 27-point setback. The Fighting Scots used a strong defensive effort in the victory as they forced 20 Oberlin turnover and won the battle on the glass by a 32-20 margin.

Ohio Wesleyan (20-5), the second seed in the NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament, has advanced to the semifinals for the fourth year in a row after knocking off seventh-seeded Denison (9-17) by a 77-56 margin on Tuesday night in Delaware, Ohio. The Battling Bishops fell behind, 9-2, in the first four minutes of the contest, but were able to bounce back and took a narrow 37-32 lead into halftime. Led by 15 second half points from freshman post Claude Gray (Avon, OH/Avon), OWU outscored the Big Red, 40-24, in the second period en route to the 21-point quarterfinal victory. Gray finished the contest with 20 point on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, while junior guard Taylor Rieger (Lewis Center, OH/Olentangy Orange) led the Bishops with 23 points in 34 minutes of action. The Big Red were led by freshman guard Darius White's (Galloway, OH/East) 15-point performance, while senior Dimonde Hale (Columbus, OH/Northland) closed out his impressive career at DU with 12 points and eight rebounds. The Battling Bishops dominated the battle in the paint as they outscored DU, 40-18, and won the rebounding battle by a 56-27 margin.

For the first time since the 2009 season, Kenyon (16-10) has advanced to the semifinal round of the NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament after the Lords knocked off sixth-seeded Wabash (9-17), 77-72, on Tuesday night in Gambier, Ohio. The Lords scored the first bucket of the game on a layup from junior forward Ikenna Nwadibia (San Francisco, CA/Stuart Hall) and never looked back as KC led the entire night en route to the five-point victory over the Little Giants. Wabash made things interesting in the game's final seconds as freshman Ross Sponsler (Terre Haute, IN/North Vigo) sunk a three-pointer with seven seconds left to pull the Little Giants within three, 75-72, however, KC sophomore Jonathan Amador (Woodstock, GA/Woodstock) sealed the victory with a pair of free throws in the final seconds. The Lords were led on the evening by junior Brian Lebowitz (New York, NY/Riverdale) who posted a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Sponsler led the way for the Little Giants with 17 points, including shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.

In a battle of the Tigers, fifth-seeded Wittenberg (17-9) overcame two regular season losses against DePauw (16-10) by earning a narrow, 63-62, triumph in Tuesday night's quarterfinal contest in Greencastle, Indiana. In the back-and-fourth affair that was won by junior Scott Masin (New Carlisle, OH/Bethel) sinking a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left, Wittenberg led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but neither team led by more than five points in the second period. Masin led the way for Wittenberg with 25 points and eight rebounds after shooting 70 percent (7-of-10) from the field and 76 percent (11-of-14) from the free throw line. The DPU Tigers got double-digit scoring efforts from four different players, led by senior Kevin Sullivan (Upper Arlington, OH/Upper Arlington) who scored 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Wittenberg hung on for the victory after shooting 49 percent (21-of-43) from the field, compared to just 38 percent (23-of-60) for DePauw.

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As conference champions, Wooster will be the top seed in the 29th annual NCAC Men’s Basketball Tournament. Tournament play begins with quarterfinal games at campus sites on Tuesday evening. Tournament seeding follows the final regular-season standings with the top four seeds hosting quarterfinal contests. The Fighting Scots host the eighth seed, Oberlin (5-11, 7-18) at 7:30 p.m. Second seed Ohio Wesleyan (12-4, 19-5) hosts seventh seed Denison (7-9, 9-16) at 7:30 p.m.; third-seeded Kenyon (9-7, 15-10) host sixth-seeded Wabash (7-9, 9-16) at 6:00 p.m., while fourth-seeded DePauw (9-7, 16-9) hosts fifth-seeded Wittenberg (9-7, 16-9) at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday’s winners will advance to the semifinals on Friday at the site of the highest remaining seed to emerge from the quarterfinals. Semifinal games will be held at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. with the host institution playing in the later time slot. The championship game is set for 7:00 p.m. at the site of the semifinal contests. This year’s tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division Men’s Basketball Tournament, which begins with first-round play between February 28 - March 2.

TOURNEY TALK: Wooster is the four-time defending NCAC Tournament champion after knocking off fifth-seeded Denison, 53-51, in last season’s title game in Springfield, Ohio. The Fighting Scots own 14 post-season titles with just over half of them coming as the No. 1 seed (1995, ‘99, ‘00, ‘03, ‘07, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11). Wittenberg is second with six tourney titles, while Ohio Wesleyan (4), Allegheny (3) and Kenyon (1) round out the list of past men’s tournament champions. Wooster has appeared in the finals 19 times, including 11-straight from 1997-2007, while Wittenberg has made 14 championship game appearances, followed by Allegheny (8), Ohio Wesleyan (7), Kenyon (3), Wabash (3) and Denison (1) ... Ohio Wesleyan enters the tournament in search of its fifth tournament title all-time. The Battling Bishops last hoisted the tournament trophy in 2008 when they defeated Wabash, 89-72 ... The third-seeded Lords, who are appearing in the tournament for the 10th year in a row, last won the tourney title in the 1994 season ... In its second season in the league, fourth-seeded DePauw will host its first ever tournament quarterfinal game after earning the seventh seed in last year’s event ... Wittenberg, the fifth seed in 2013, is making its 24th-straight NCAC tournament appearance since joining the conference for the 1989-90 academic year ... Sixth-seeded Wabash will be appearing in the NCAC tournament for the 14th year in a row since joining the league in the 1999-2000 academic year. The Little Giants made back-to-back championship game appearances in 2008 and 2009, falling to OWU in ‘08, 89-72, and dropping an 84-72 decision against Wooster in ‘09 ... Denison is the seventh seed and will look to repeat last year’s success that saw the Big Red appear in the title game for the first time in program history ... Oberlin is making its 10th appearance in the NCAC tournament and first showing since 2008 when the Yeomen were eliminated by top-seeded Wooster, 104-71 ... Wooster leads all men’s teams with an overall .803 winning percentage in tournament games. Wittenberg follows at .707 (41-17). Ohio Wesleyan is next with a .510 winning percentage (26-25), while Wabash is 13-13 (.500) all-time in NCAC Tournament play.