It will mark the second year in a row, and fourth in the last five, the NCAC tourney finals will feature Wittenberg and Wooster. However, it will be the first such match-up played at Wooster since 1997.
In Friday’s second game, the Scots (26-1) stormed out to a double-digit lead just over five minutes into the action (14-4). Earlham (12-15) scored on its ensuing possession, but that would be the last time the margin would be single digits as the Scots went on a 12-0 run to go up 26-6.
Wooster went on to lead by as much as 25 in the first half, including 43-18 when Andy Van Horn converted a put-back off an offensive rebound at the buzzer.
The closest the Quakers came in the second half was 56-36.
Thirteen Scots got in the scorebook, including three in double figures, led by Matt Schlingman’s 16 points. He accounted for Wooster’s first four points, which gave him 1,000 for his career – the 27th player in school history to do so.
James Cooper contributed 12 points, including 2-of-3 3-pointers, and matched a season-high with four assists. Also for the Scots, Blake Mealer tallied 10 points and five rebounds. Sharing team rebounding honors with Mealer was Tim Vandervaart, who also made all four of his field goal attempts.
For Earlham, Brandon Miller had a game-high 20 points, but it took him 16 field goal attempts and six free throws to get to that total. He also produced team-bests of six boards and four assists, while Jermaine Crumby added 13 points in the losing effort.
Overall, Wooster shot nearly 60 percent from the field (.579; 33-for-57), while limiting the Quakers to a rate of .321 (17-for-53) and outrebounding them 38-30.
Wabash (14-13) nearly pulled off an upset in the day’s first game. The Little Giants never trailed in the second half, which included being ahead by as much as 10 points (43-33), but they did not score during the final four minutes of regulation. Wittenberg’s Dane Borchers knotted it 50-50 with a pair of free throws with just over 30 seconds left.
Brett Bowen turned in two key plays, a 3-pointer with just over five minutes remaining which brought the Tigers within 47-44 and then a steal of an in-bound pass underneath the Wittenberg basket, followed by a pass to Borchers for the lay-up, which made it 50-48 with just over two minutes to go.
Wabash took a final shot in regulation, however, the well-defended 3-pointer was rebounded by Borchers with about two seconds to play.
In the extra session, the Tigers (24-3) scored the first seven points, highlighted by a 3-pointer from the left wing by Andy Bucheti. The Little Giants finally ended their scoreless streak via an Adonis Joseph 3-pointer with just under a minute to go only to see Wittenberg sink 4-of-4 free throws to seal the game.
Borchers and fellow post Daniel Russ paced the Tigers with 14 points apiece, while Joseph led the Wabash attack with 13 points.
The winner of Saturday’s game will receive the NCAC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.