|
| Senior Reece Dupler rescued Wooster from a major upset in the first round of the NCAC tournament.. Wooster athletics file photo |
Wooster won a nail biter in the first round of the NCAC tournament while Marietta fell at home to John Carroll in the OAC playoffs. Elsewhere Aston Francis extended his career and the Ohio Northern women upset Baldwin Wallace.
- Tuesday's scoreboard: Men | Women
- More news releases: Men | Women
- Men's conference tournament tracker
- Women's conference tournament tracker
Reece Dupler's layup with three seconds left was the difference as NCAC top-seeded Wooster edged eighth-seeded Allegheny, 91-89. The Gators led the Scots 48-40 at the break and still led by two with 48 seconds left in the game. Allegheny called timeout to set up its defense, but Wooster responded with an Eric Bullic layup to tie the game at 89. After the Gators missed a layup attempt on their next possession, Dupler made his game-winning layup.
Danyon Hempy led the Scots with 27 points and six assists and Dupler added 20 more for Wooster. The Scots will host the NCAC's semifinals and final this weekend with No. 24 Wabash, Wittenberg and DePauw making the trip to Timken Gymnasium.
The unpredictability of the OAC regular season spilled into the first round of the conference tournament when John Carroll upended No. 19 Marietta 82-79. Anthony Wallace gave the Pioneers a 79-77 lead with 17 seconds left, only to see John Carroll retake the lead on a Ryan Berger three pointer. Marietta turned the ball over on its next possession and Sean Flannery sunk two free throws to ice the Blue Streaks' win.
Berger filled the stat sheet with 27 points, 11 rebounds and two steals for John Carroll. Marietta will await its fate in the pool of teams hoping for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. In other OAC tournament action Capital and Mount Union defended their home courts and Baldwin Wallace topped Wilmington 74-71 on the road.
Averett scored the biggest upset of the night with an 82-78 win over N.C. Wesleyan in the USA South Athletic Conference tournament's first round. Jalen Burnett, Vince Contreras and Raymond Bullock III combined for 41 points off the bench for the Cougars (9-17).
The CCIW extended its conference tournament to six teams and that allowed Wheaton All-American Aston Francis to play one more game on his home court. Francis scored 32 points, including six 3-pointers, and the Thunder took care of Elmhurst, 85-75. Illinois Wesleyan also advanced with a win at home where the Titans defeated Carroll, 82-73.
The NJAC title game will pit the top two teams against each other after New Jersey City and Rowan won their semifinal matchups on Wednesday night. The Gothic Knights gutted out a 66-58 win over Ramapo despite shooting 38 percent and 4-for-25 from three. Sam Toney had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Rowan rode big games from Ramon Wright (27 points) and Daron Curry (23 points) to victory over Montclair State, 95-86.
All four home teams won their quarterfinal games in the CAC tournament with only fourth-seed Salisbury being tested. The Sea Gulls needed overtime and 22 points from Mike Ward to outlast Frostburg State, 78-76.
Jim Calhoun's first season as a Division III coach will go least at least one more game since St. Joseph (Conn.) upset Suffolk 95-84 in the first round of the GNAC tournament. Delshawn Jackson, Jr. scored 24 points for the Blue Jays who will play St. Joseph's (Maine) on Thursday night. The Monks also won on the road, beating Johnson and Wales, 83-80.
Sophomores Kahleb Downing and Colin McNamara scored 20 points apiece and WPI defeated Babson 70-66 in the NEWMAC's play-in game. WPI will get another crack at their fellow Engineers when they play MIT in the conference semifinal.
Women: ONU upsets BW; Rough night for Red Dragons
Baldwin Wallace became the first team on the NCAA Tournament bubble after Ohio Northern knocked the Yellow Jackets out of the OAC tournament, 70-53. The Polar Bears used an 18-6 run to build a 56-44 lead early in the fourth quarter and made 11 of 16 free throw attempts in the final quarter to put the game out of reach. Baldwin Wallace, which was ranked sixth in last week's Great Lakes regional rankings, drops to 19-7.
Wilmington jumped out to an 18-2 lead on OAC top-seed John Carroll, but the Blue Streaks rallied past the Quakers 76-70. John Carroll outscored Wilmington 22-14 in the game-swinging third quarter.
There were only two ranked teams in action on Tuesday night and both won handily. No. 8 St. Joseph's (Maine) upped its record to 26-0 with a 99-75 win over Johnson and Wales in the GNAC quarterfinals. Kelsi McNamara had 29 points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Monks. No. 19 DePauw overwhelmed Allegheny 73-40 in the opening round of the NCAC tournament.
It was a rough night to be a Red Dragon as SUNY Oneonta and Cortland both lost at home in the SUNYAC tournament. SUNY Oneonta was stunned by six-seed Fredonia 59-51, which could push that set of Red Dragons to the fringe of the at-large discussion. Oneonta was ranked seventh in last week's East Region rankings. Brockport's Emily Nestler banked in a jump shot with 32 seconds left to bounce Cortland from the postseason, 55-53.
St. Mary's (Ind.) held Albion to 32 percent shooting and the Belles knocked the third-seeded Britons out of the MIAA playoffs, 58-42. Jade Mosier scored 23 points for St. Mary's which will face Hope in the MIAA semifinals.