Denison University attempted two shots, one to tie and one to win, during the final 5.8 seconds, but The College of Wooster survived and won the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the fourth season in a row, this time by a final score of 53-51 Saturday night at a neutral site in Springfield, Ohio.
In winning its league-leading 14th NCAC Tournament, Wooster (24-4) again earns the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III Championships, which starts play March 1-2. The Fighting Scots are making their 10th-straight appearance in the national field and 17th of the last 18 years.
Fifth-seeded Denison (14-14), which upended the top seed and host for the weekend, Wittenberg University, on Friday night gave the No. 2 seed, Wooster, all it could handle for 40 minutes.
Trailing by two with 5.8 seconds on the clock, the Big Red had an in-bounds play underneath their basket and lobbed the ball inside, but the ensuing shot hit the front rim. The Scots tried to push the rebound up the floor to run out the time, but it went out of bounds near the midcourt stripe with 1.6 to go.
After a couple of timeouts, Denison in-bounded the ball down the left sideline to its top 3-point shooter, but he was well defended and the final heave was an air ball, as Wooster hung on for the victory.
The Scots scored the game's first six points and were ahead the entire first half, including by as much as 28-19 with 2:16 left. Then, the Big Red scored seven in a row to pull within two at halftime (28-26).
Denison gained the lead for the first time (31-30) early in the second half and steadily constructed a seven-point advantage at 48-41 just under the nine-minute mark. Wooster, though, quickly recaptured the lead via an 8-0 spurt over the next three possessions, featuring 3-pointers from Justin Hallowell and Doug Thorpe, and the Scots' defense would only give up three points the rest of the way.
With Wooster ahead by one (49-48), both defenses really clamped down the last six minutes. A couple of Josh Claytor free throws made it 51-48 at the 3:43 mark, then the Big Red answered with one free throw on the ensuing series.
Claytor made a nice move on the inside for a lay-up to push the Scots' lead to two possessions (53-49) with 1:50 remaining. Dimonde Hale responded with a runner in the paint to pull Denison within two, then neither offense scored the final 1:37.
As the final score indicates, the game was pretty even statistically. Wooster connected on four 3-pointers (4-for-15) to the Big Red's two (2-for-18), and also had two more field goals overall while making 42.3 percent (22-for-52), compared to 34.5 percent (20-for-58).
The Scots barely outrebounded Denison 36-35, however, they committed 11 turnovers.
Hallowell, despite struggling from 3-point range (2-for-9), scored 14 points, as did Claytor, to pace Wooster. They also combined for 15 rebounds, with Claytor taking team honors at eight.
A big key to Wooster's win was its defense on Larry Farmer, as the Big Red's second-leading scorer (12.5 ppg) was held to four points on 2-of-10 field goals. Hale went for a game-high 19 points.
Tournament MVP honors went to Hallowell, a fitting bookend to the senior forward's career as he also won the award as a freshman. The all-tournament team consisted of the Scots' Matt Fegan, Farmer, Hale, Clayton Black of Wittenberg, and Ohio Wesleyan University's Tim Brady.
The NCAA field is scheduled to be announced Monday with a selection show on ncaa.com, beginning at noon.