NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament
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Edited: Feb. 28, 2009
2009 CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP As NCAC tournament champions, Wooster earns a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. The NCAA will announce matchups on Monday. 2009 SEMIFINAL RECAPS Wooster defeated fifth-seeded Kenyon, 89-71, in their semifinal matchup. Scot senior Marty Bidwell opened the scoring with a three-pointer early in the contest and that set the tone for the rest of the game. The Scots hit 14-of-28 shots from long range and shot 29-of-52 (.492) from the floor on the night. Ian Franks led five Scots in double figures with 17 points and Bidwell and Mike Evans each added 15. Justin Hallowell and Matt Fegan each connected on four three-pointers to record 14 and 12 points, respectively. Kenyon ends its season 16-11, the program's best record since the 1994-95 season. Senior Bryan Yelvington led the Lords with 14 points. Classmate Dave Jolson finished with 12, a total matched by freshman Anthony Chun. Wabash bested seventh-seeded Allegheny, 73-56, in the night's first semifinal contest. The Little Giants led from the start, scoring the first nine points of the game on three-pointers by Wes Smith and Ben Burkett. Smith was responsible for eight of Wabash's first 14 points. He finished with a game-high 27 points off 11-of-17 shooting from the field and recorded his fourth double-double of the season by adding a game-high 14 rebounds. Smith also made four steals to take over sixth place on the career steals list for the Little Giants. Henry Heeterled Allegheny with 17 points and Craig Devinney followed with 12. Allegheny finishes the season with a 12-15 mark. 2009 QUARTERFINAL RECAPS As the top seed, Wooster will host the semifinal and championship games on Friday and Saturday. Friday's first semifinal pits Allegheny against Wabash. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. The Little Giants won the lone regular season contest between the two squads, 58-56. The second semifinal tips off at 8:00 p.m. and features the home Fighting Scots taking on Kenyon. Wooster won its only meeting with the Lords this season, 74-64. Live video of the basketball games will be provided through Teamline. The cost for the semifinals will be $15 (good for both games). The cost for the championship game video will also be $15. Click to purchase video. NCAC champion Wooster, the top seed, defeated eighth-seeded Denison. The Fighting Scots jumped out on top early and never let up en route to their 101-68 victory. Wooster, which extended its NCAA Div. III-leading active streak of 20-win seasons to 13 (20-6), played through an emotional, difficult night. Rallying around long-time assistant coach Doug Cline, who lost his three-year old son, Corey Cline, to a tragic accident Sunday, the Fighting Scots scored the first seven points of the contest, including a 3-pointer by team captain Marty Bidwell on the initial possession. They never looked back. Nathan Balch recorded his second 20-point game, tallying 20 even to lead all players in scoring, including 5-of-7 three-point shooting. Justin Hallowell made 4-of-5 from outside the arc as part of a 14-point effort. That gives him a single-season school record of 82 three-pointers made, passing James Cooper and current assistant coach Tom Port who both had 78 in the 2006-07 season. Denison, returning to the post-season event after a two year abscence, was paced by Larry Farmer's 12 points and eight rebounds. Chris Luther added 12 points while going 8-for-10 from the fre throw line. The Big Red finish with an 8-18 mark. Wabash did it again. For the third straight year, the Little Giants provided some quarterfinal drama by upsetting their higher ranked opponent and moving on to the semifinals. In 2007 and 2008, Wabash was tabbed fifth entering the post-season. The Little Giants knocked off Allegheny two years ago and Kenyon last winter, both were No. 4 seeds. This year Wabash ended the regular season in sixth - different position, same outcome. The Little Giants toppled third-seeded Hiram, 83-75. Chase Haltom fueled the charge with a game-high 25 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-11 (.545) from behind the arc and 7-of-9 (.778) at the free throw line. Wes Smith followed with 21 points. Hiram was led by senior forward Ian Pfouts' 19 points. He was 4-of-6 from the floor (.667), 9-of-11 (.818) from the line andalso grabbed 10 rebounds. Chris Roberts finished with 14 points. The Terriers end their season with 16-10 overall record, their the first winning season since 1999-2000 and the best overall record since the same year when Hiram finished 14-11. Hiram doubled its win total from a year ago, and marks the third straight season with a W-L record improved from the winter before. Allegheny, the seventh seed, turned in its second straight NCAC tourney quarterfinal upset, a thrilling 78-75 overtime victory over second-seeded Ohio Wesleyan. The win was the second for Gators over the Battling Bishops in four days, as Allegheny closed out the regular season with a 59-57 victory over OWU in Delaware. In 2008, Allegheny entered the post-season as the sixth seed, and advanced to the semifnals after upending third-seeded Wittenberg, 65-63. This evening, Allegheny sent the game into overtime and scored the last three points of the extra session to escape with the win. George Raftis led the team with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Henry Heeter scored 15 points, all from long range, and Doug Price finished with 10 points. Ohio Wesleyan's Kyle Miller hit a three-pointer and a lay-in as to help the Bishops erase a four-point deficit during the last minute of regulation, but it wasn't enough. Tim Brady led the Bishops with a season-high 19 points, while Mitch Noggle finished with 17, going 6-for-7 from the field, including 5-for-6 from behind the arc. Ohio Wesleyan caps its 2008-09 campaign at 17-8. Kenyon, seeded fifth, surprised fourth-seeded Wittenberg, 65-60. The Lords advance to the semifinal round of the NCAC tourney for the first time since the 1994-95 season. Just three days ago, Kenyon dropped its regular-season finale at Wittenberg, 68-44, but played without leading scorers Bryan Yelvington and J.T. Knight because of illness and injury, respectively. The two returned to the court tonight and provided a huge lift for the Lords. Knight, a sophomore guard, drained four three-pointers and led all players with 18 points, while Yelvington, a senior forward, dropped in 15 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. The loss evened Wittenberg's record at 13-13, the Tigers' first non-winning season since 1967-68 (13-13). Wittenberg, which entered this game with an all-time series record of 79-8 against Kenyon, previously owned the longest streak of consecutive winning seasons in all NCAA divisions at 40. Wittenberg still has not had a losing season since 1955-56. Tonight, the Tigers were paced by senior wing Kevin Murray with 11 points and six rebounds, while junior post Mark Snyder added 10 points and a team-high seven boards. TOURNEY TALK (as of 2/24): Ohio Wesleyan is the defending NCAC Tournament champion and has four post-season titles to its credit. Wooster leads the league with 10 men's tournament titles. Only half of those wins (1995, '99, '00, '03, '07) came as a #1 seed. The Fighting Scots entered last winter's event as the top seed and were upset in the semifinals by fifth-seeded Wabash, 87-63. The loss snapped Wooster's string of tournament championship appearances at 11. Wittenberg has six tourney titles. The Fighting Scots and Tigers have combined to win every tournament between 1999-2007. Allegheny (3) and Kenyon (1) round out the list of past men's tournament champions ... Wooster has appeared in the finals 16 times, including 11 straight from 1997-2007, while Wittenberg has made 12 championship game appearances, followed by Allegheny (8), Ohio Wesleyan (6), Kenyon (3) and Wabash (1) ... Hiram enters the 2009 field as the third seed. The ranking is the highest since the Terriers joined NCAC play during the 1999-00 season. They are making their sixth overall tourney appearance ... Denison returns to the tourney field after failing to make the cut the past two seasons. The Big Red have advanced past the quarterfinal round six times, the last time was an 80-78 win over OWU in 1998, but have never advanced to the championship round ... Wabash will be making its 10th tournament appearance in as many years. The Little Giants joined the conference 10 years ago (1999-2000). Wabash advanced to the championship game twice in that span, falling in the 2000 title game to Wooster, 114-91, and dropping an 89-72 decision to Ohio Wesleyan last winter. The Little Giants have bowed out in the semifinals in six of the last eight years ... Wooster leads all men's teams with an overall .767 winning percentage in NCAC Tournament games (46-14). Wittenberg follows at .720 (36-14). Allegheny has a 24-20 tourney record (.545).Wabash is at 10-9 (.526); Ohio Wesleyan is 23-22 (.511) ... How quarterfinal teams fared against each other this season: Three of the top four seeds, #1 Wooster, #3 Hiram and #4 Wittenberg swept their first-round opponents during the regular season. The Fighting Scots and Tigers took two games from Denison and Kenyon, respectively. Wooster, however, will not take the Big Red lightly, after Denison pushed them to a 102-92 double-overtime victory in Wooster on Feb. 11. The Terriers won their only regular season contest - a home game - against Wabash. #2 Ohio Wesleyan and #7 Allegheny split a pair of games, with each team winning on the road. Allegheny took a 59-57 decision at OWU on the last day of the regular season - a loss that stopped the Battling Bishops from sharing the NCAC championship. Ohio Wesleyan topped the Gators, 64-60, on Jan. 24. |
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