2014 Tournament Champions: Wooster

Quarterfinals:		Semifinals:		Championship:
Tuesday, Feb. 25		Friday, Feb. 28 (at Wooster)		Saturday, March 1 (at Wooster)
#1 Wooster 89, #8 Oberlin 56 - Boxscore		Wittenberg 63, DePauw 61 - Boxscore		Wooster 71, Wittenberg 63 - Boxscore
#2 DePauw 73, #7 Wabash 59 - Boxscore
#3 Wittenberg 64, #6 Denison 49 - Boxscore		Wooster 78, Ohio Wesleyan 67 - Boxscore
#4 Ohio Wesleyan 78, #5 Kenyon 67 - Boxscore

Championship Game Recap:

For the 15th time in program history, Wooster (25-3) has won the NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament after defeating arch-rival Wittenberg (21-7) by a 71-63 margin on Saturday night (3/1) at Wooster's Timken Gymnasium. Senior Kenny DeBoer (Westerville, OH/North) earned the Al Van Wie award as the tournament's most valuable player after tallying 15 points, six rebounds and four assists in the championship game. In the three tournament games combined, DeBoer led all scorers with 48 points after shooting 47 percent (15-of-32) from the field and 64 percent (7-of-11) from three-point range.

As tournament champions, the Fighting Scots have earned the NCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. The national tournament selections will be made on Monday, March 3rd, with first-round play scheduled to begin on either March 7th or 8th.

All-Tournament Team

Tommy Fernitz, DePauw
Reuel Rogers, Ohio Wesleyan
Scott Masin, Wittenberg
Zack Leahy, Wittenberg
Evan Pannell, Wooster

Al Van Wie Award - Tournament MVP
Kenny DeBoer

Semifinal Recaps:

Top-seeded Wooster (24-3) had booked its ticket to the championship game of the NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament for the 21st time in program history following a 78-67 victory over fourth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan (20-7) in Friday night's second semifinal contest. With the victory, the Fighting Scots will now square off against their arch-rival Wittenberg Tigers in the title game tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. The Scots and the Bishops battled tough through the first 10 minutes of action as the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 15-15 with 9:58 showing on the first half clock after a layup from OWU senior post Reuel Rogers (Columbus, OH/Bexley). OWU kept the momentum rolling and built its biggest lead of the half, 30-24, on a three-pointer from senior Dre White (Lima, OH/Bath) with 4:02 left in the half, but the Fighting Scots answered by ending the half on a 15-5 run to take a 39-35 advantage at half. Senior Doug Thorpe (Columbus, OH/Eastmoor Acad.) and junior Evan Pannell (Akron, OH/Archbishop Hoban) capped off the run with a pair of three-pointers in the final minute. Wooster maintained its lead in the second-half and held off numerous OWU scoring runs, including a sequence with just over five minutes left that drew the Bishops within one, 63-62, on a three-point play from junior Nick Felhaber (Holland, OH/Toledo St. John's). Key three pointers down the stretch helped secure the 11-point win for the Fighting Scots, led be a corner trey from senior Kenny DeBoer (Westerville, OH/North) with 40 seconds left to make the score 74-67. DeBoer led the Fighting Scots on the night with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Rogers paced OWU with 20 points after shooting 8-of-14 from the field.

Third-seeded Wittenberg (21-6) posted a dramatic 63-61 victory over second-seeded DePauw (19-8) in the first semifinal match of the 2014 NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night in Wooster. With the victory, the Wittenberg Tigers have advanced to the championship game of the NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament for the 15th time in program history. Wittenberg and DePauw took turns sharing the lead in the first half in a tightly contested matchup; however, neither team would take an advantage into halftime as the score was deadlocked at 35-35. The second half had an identical feel as the evenly-matched teams continued to match each other bucket-for-bucket, leading to the 10th tie of the game, 57-57, with 2:16 left in the game. Wittenberg took control in the final two minutes with timely buckets and a a key forced turnover in the final seconds of the contest. Senior post Scott Masin (New Carlisle, OH/Bethel) paced Wittenberg in the victory with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while junior center Tommy Fernitz (Northbrook, IL/Glenbrook North) led the DPU Tigers with 20 points and nine rebounds. Wittenberg did win the battle on the glass, outrebounding DPU by a 34-27 margin.

Quarterfinal Recaps:

Top-seeded Wooster (23-3) pulled away from eighth-seeded Oberlin (7-19) in the second half to earn an 89-56 victory in the quarterfinal round of the NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament. The Fighting Scots led the Yeomen by six, 34-28, at halftime, but they turned up the heat in the second stanza and outscored Oberlin by a 55-28 margin to pick up the 33-point victory. Four Wooster players scored in double figures in the contest, led by junior guard Xavier Brown (Bowling Green, OH/Bowling Green) who finished the game with 17 points. The Fighting Scots also got a strong effort from freshman forwad Dan Fanelly (Uniontown, OH/Green) as he finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds. Senior Geoff Simpson (Simsbury, CT/Simsbury) scored 16 points and grabbed three rebounds in his final collegiate game in a Yeomen uniform. The Fighting Scots won the battle on the glass, 38-32, and only committed nine turnovers compared to 21 for Oberlin.

Second-seeded DePauw (19-7) picked up a 73-59 victory over arch-rival and seventh-seeded Wabash (8-17) to pick up its first win in program history in the NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament. The Tigers jumped on top of the Little Giants from the start as they built a 13-0 lead at the 16:39 mark on a three-point basket from junior Bob Dillon (Indianapolis, IN/Brebeuf). Wabash pulled within four, 21-17, with 6:25 remaining in the first half on a layup from junior Houston Hodges (Plymouth, IN/Plymouth), but the Tigers ended the half on a 17-11 run to take a 10-point advantage, 38-28, into half. The Tigers added to their lead in the second half and held their biggest advantage of the game, 69-49, with 6:12 left in the contest. Senior guard Michael Wilkison (Cincinnati, OH/Anderson) led the Tigers with 20 points, while junior center Tommy Fernitz (Northbrook, IL/Glenbrook North) shot 8-of-10 from the field and finished the game with 19 points and six rebounds. Hodges led the Little Giants with 18 points and three assists.

Wittenberg (20-6), the tournament's third seed, topped sixth-seeded Denison (12-14) by a 64-49 margin to advance to the quarterfinal round of the NCAC Tournament. The lead bounced back and fourth between the Tigers and Big Red early on in the first half, but a layup from senior post Scott Masin (New Carlisle, OH/Bethel) at the 2:28 mark gave Wittenberg a 23-22 advantage, a lead they would retain throughout he second half. Wittenberg senior guard Zack Leahy (Rossford, OH/Rossford) led all scorers in the game with 17 points, while Masin finished one rebound shy of his 13th double-double of the season with 16 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard David Meurer (Granville, OH/Newark Catholic) led the Big Red with 15 points and three rebounds. The Tigers had the shooters touch in the game as they shot 50 percent (22-of-44) from the field and 72 percent (13-of-18) from the free throw line, while the Big Red shot just 33 percent (19-of-58) from the field and 23 percent (7-of-31) from three-point range.

Ohio Wesleyan (20-6), the fourth seed in the tournament, began its quest to repeat as NCAC Tournament champions by defeating fifth-seed Kenyon (12-14), 78-67, in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night in Delaware, Ohio. The Lords took an early three-point lead on a three-pointer from senior guard Julian Pavlin (New York, NY/Dalton) thirty seconds into the game, but a pair of free throws from OWU's Seth Clark (Lewis Center, OH/Olentangy) at the 16:34 mark put the Battling Bishops ahead to stay. The Battling Bishops built their biggest lead of the night, 38-19, on a three-point play from senior post Reuel Rogers (Columbus, OH/Bexley) late in the first half and never relinquished their double-digit advantage in the second stanza to secure the 11-point victory. Sophomore guard Claude Gray (Avon, OH/Avon) led the Bishops with 21 points, while Clark finished the game with 18 points and a team-leading eight rebounds. Kenyon senior Brian Lebowitz (New York, NY/Riverdale) closed out his career at KC with a 23-point, nine-rebound effort, while Pavlin poured in 21 points in his final collegiate game.

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Wooster (16-2, 22-3) secured its 14th outright North Coast men’s basketball championship last week after sweeping a pair of league games against Allegheny (3-15, 6-19), 89-57, and Oberlin (4-14, 7-18), 82-53. The Fighting Scots lead the league with 16 titles all time, while Wittenberg is also in double digits with 11 conference crowns. Between the Fighting Scots and Tigers, one of the two teams have had at least a share of every NCAC men’s basketball championship dating back to the 1988-89 season. Allegheny and Ohio Wesleyan each boast four titles apiece. The Gators shared the championship with Wittenberg in 1993, with Wooster in 1989 and with Ohio Wesleyan in both 1988 and ‘86. The Battling Bishops also won outright titles in 1987 and ‘85.

As conference champions, Wooster will be the top seed in the 30th annual NCAC Men’s Basketball Tournament. Tournament play begins with quarterfinal games at campus sites on Tuesday (2/25) evening. Tournament seeding follows the regular season standings with the top four seeds hosting quarterfinal contests. The Fighting Scots, who are ranked eighth in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25, host the eighth seed Oberlin at 7:30 p.m. Second seed DePauw (13-5, 18-7) hosts seventh seed Wabash (7-11, 8-16) at 8:00 p.m.; third-seeded Wittenberg (13-5, 19-6), which is ranked 22nd in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, hosts sixth-seeded Denison (8-10, 12-13) at 7:30 p.m., while fourth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan (13-5, 19-6), which is ranked 18th in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, entertains fifth-seeded Kenyon (9-9, 12-13) at 8:00 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 on March 7th.

TOURNEY TALK: Wooster has won five of the last seven NCAC Tournaments, with only Ohio Wesleyan interrupting that string with titles in 2008 and 2013. The Battling Bishops upended the Fighting Scots by a 76-66 margin in last year’s championship game at Wooster. 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 (5), Allegheny (3) and Kenyon (1) round out the list of past men’s tournament champions. Wooster has appeared in the finals 20 times, including 11-straight from 1997-2007, while Wittenberg has made 14 championship game appearances, followed by Allegheny (8), Ohio Wesleyan (8), Kenyon (3), Wabash (3) and Denison (1) ... Second-seeded DePauw is in search of its first NCAC Tournament win since joining the league in the 2011-12 academic year ... Wittenberg, which is making its 25th-straight appearance in the NCAC Tournament, is seeking its first tourney title since hoisting the trophy in 2006 ... Ohio Wesleyan, the defending NCAC Tournament champions, will be in search of its sixth tournament title all-time ... The fifth-seeded Lords, who are appearing in the tournament for the 11th year in a row, last won the tournament title in the 1994 season ... Denison is the sixth seed in the tournament and is in search of its first tournament title in program history. In 2012, the Big Red advanced to their first ever tournament championship game where they were narrowly upended by Wooster, 53-51 ... Wabash qualified for the tournament for the 15th 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 ‘09, falling to OWU in ‘08, 89-72, and dropping an 84-72 decision against Wooster in ‘09 ... Oberlin is making its second-straight appearance in the NCAC Tournament and 11th overall. The Yeomen’s last tournament win came in 1992 with an 88-73 win over Allegheny in the quarterfinals ... Wooster leads all men’s teams with an overall .797 winning percentage (59-15) in tournament games. Wittenberg follows at .700 (42-18), while Ohio Wesleyan is next with a .537 winning percentage (29-25) and Allegheny is the only other men’s team above the .500 mark in tournament play at .511 (24-23).