MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wooscotsfan]

Final: Wooster 53  Denison 51 

Scots win the NCAC tourney title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tourney.

Congratulation to Denison and their seniors on a very well played game.

Wooster's top scorers were Justin Hallowell with 14 points and Josh Claytor with 14 points.

Big Red was led by Dimonde Hale with 19 points, Alex Longi with 10 and Brett Tiberi with 9

[smedindy]

Oh, my! Larry Farmer misses a bunny with three seconds left. Dimonde Hale missed two free throws with under a minute to go. Denison had their chances! NCAC will probably get three teams in, but wow, the Big Red could have turned the conference even more on its ear than it was all season.

[kiltedbryan]

Great game! Denison played very, very well--great NCAC tournament for them. I think their run reminds us all of the depth of the strength in the NCAC this year. Our teams in the big dance will be battle-tested and ready.

Congrats to the Scots on the automatic bid!

[wooscotsfan]

Congratulations also to Wooster senior Matt Fegan who played in his 123rd career game tonight.   I believe that he has now surpassed Kyle Witucky for most career games....and hopefully, Matt has a few more to play in the NCAA's.

With Wooster at 24-4 and the automatic bid, they may have a chance to host a couple of NCAA games.

GO SCOTS!

[ScotsFan]

Oh, my! Larry Farmer misses a bunny with three seconds left. Dimonde Hale missed two free throws with under a minute to go. Denison had their chances! NCAC will probably get three teams in, but wow, the Big Red could have turned the conference even more on its ear than it was all season.

Hale was more than due for those misses as he was only 57% on the season and had made 20-23 for the tournament up until those 2 misses. 

Game effort by the Big Red and congrats to the Scots for bringing home their 4th straight tournament title and 4th straight ticket to the dance.  It would have been nice to cut down the nets in the friendly confines of Timken, but there has to be just a little extra satisfaction when you get to cut down Witt's nets and take them back to Wooster!      

[smedindy]

Something tells me this here NCAC tourney hosting thing may rotate around a bit in the next few years.

[wooscotsfan]

Here are the last 10 years of winners in NCAC titles - season and tournament:

               Season          Tournament
2011-12   Wittenberg      Wooster
2010-11   Wooster          Wooster
2009-10   Wooster          Wooster
2008-09   Wooster          Wooster
2007-08   Wooster          Ohio Wesleyan
2006-07   Wooster          Wooster
2005-06   Wooster          Wittenberg
2004-05   Wooster          Wittenberg
2003-04   Wittenberg      Wooster
2002-03   Wooster          Wooster

Congratulations to Wooster Coaches Steve Moore, Doug Cline and the staff on a decade of great results!

[David Collinge]

This just in...
Justin Hallowell has been named MVP of the conference tournament, the aptly named Al Van Wie Award. He is joined on the all-tournament team by his teammate Matt Fegan, Denison's dynamic duo of Larry Farmer and Dimonde Hale, Wittenberg's Clayton Black, and OWU's Tim Brady.

Kind of a shame to see Denison's season end just when they were peaking. It might have been fun to see what they could have done in the early rounds of the NCAA's. Just goes to show that it's a 25-game season, and you have to show up in December as well as in February.

[goscots]

Congratulations also to Wooster senior Matt Fegan who played in his 123rd career game tonight.   I believe that he has now surpassed Kyle Witucky for most career games....and hopefully, Matt has a few more to play in the NCAA's.

With Wooster at 24-4 and the automatic bid, they may have a chance to host a couple of NCAA games.

GO SCOTS!

Actually, Kyle Witucky also played in 123 games (109-14). He never missed a game in his Wooster career. The NCAA III record is 124—Tonton Balenga, Va. Wesleyan, 2005-08.

[David Collinge]

Wittenberg is reporting attendance of 1048 (i.e. 1/3 full) for tonight's game. If that's accurate, that's a fantastic crowd for a neutral-site game a long way away from the campuses of the competitors.

[imderekpoe]

Wittenberg is reporting attendance of 1048 (i.e. 1/3 full) for tonight's game. If that's accurate, that's a fantastic crowd for a neutral-site game a long way away from the campuses of the competitors.

And it was at least 50% Denison fans. It was great to see all the Denison students there supporting their team. Wooster gets tremendous community support, but has almost no student following.

[woosterbooster]

Which goes to show that while there is little to do in Wooster at night, there's less in Granville.  And say what you want about Springfield, Ohio, it's sure not hard to find a place to get a drink.

[ohiofan1954]

I'll drink to that

[ohiofan1954]

The comment was made earlier about someone not knowing the rulebook. Forgive me for not remembering who made it. I must concur though about people who should look up the rules and I find it is usually parents or fans who have been watching all year. Case in point was last night. Unfortunately I was unable to drive from Columbus to Springfield so I went to The Wilmington-Capital game instead. The Wilmington crowd was great and the best visitors crowd I have seen there since since Wooster was there for the ncaa tournament game in 09.(sorry scott fans I know you don't like to remember that game but it was the best game I have ever been at.) However there were a few people you would think after an entire year would know just what the secondary defender rule is by now. Wilmington was clearly guilty of a block inside the half circle in the first half and you could could hear was complaining about what a bad call it was. Overall the refs in that game I thought did a good job as they have in most games I have been too this year. Since nobody has said anything about the refs at the ncac game(always a good thing not to hear about them, usually means they did a great job) I am guessing they did a fine job there also. I just hope by next year more people are familiar with not only that rule but other rules as well.

[nuscottsfan]

Props to Warnsey for holding Larry Farmer, probably the hottest player in the conference at this point, to 4 points last night. Say what you'd like about that last in bounds play...but #24's hand in the rim had a lot to do with Farmer's missed bunny. Wooster posters have been surprisingly quiet as the Scots have gone about their business of winning. This Senior class has done what others haven't. They won the Tournament title all four years. The first to do so according to The Daily-Record. Now comes March Madness!