Wooster, the No. 1 seed, will host the NCAC tourney semifinals and finals this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 24-25). The Scots will play fifth-seeded Earlham College, which upended Wabash College 78-69, at approximately 7:45 p.m. Friday, or 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first semi – third-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University versus No. 2 seed Wittenberg University – which starts at 5:30 p.m.
Against Kenyon (7-19), Wooster was ice cold from the field early on, and when Jim Arce hit a 3-pointer, the upstart Lords found themselves down just 17-16 with 8:37 remaining in the first half.
The Scots (24-2), though, buckled down from that point onward. Wooster scored the next 10 points, behind a six-point spurt from Tim Vandervaart, to take a double-digit lead for the first time (27-16). Kenyon stopped the run temporarily with a lay-up, but the Scots would then score the game’s next 29 points – the last 15 of the opening half to make it 42-18 and the first 14 of the second (56-18).
The margin never dipped below 34 the rest of the way.
After its early struggles, Wooster ended up shooting 54.8 percent from the field (34-of-62), including 18-of-26 (.692) in the second half alone. On the defensive end, the Scots forced 17 turnovers, helped limit Kenyon to less than 30 percent field-goal shooting (.286), and won the rebounding battle 46-31.
Individually, five Wooster players reached double figures, paced by Brandon Johnson with 17 points coming on 6-of-7 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws. Fellow guards James Cooper and Andy Van Horn produced 14- and 13-point nights, respectively, while combining for 5-of-8 3-pointers.
Tom Port overcame a poor first half to finish with 10 points, while Devin Fulk matched that figure on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor.
Also of note, Vandervaart and Evan Will shared team rebounding honors with seven apiece. Vandervaart also contributed five assists, three blocked shots, and three steals.
Arce sparked the Lords off of the bench with 16 points, including 4-of-8 3-pointers.
The two winners of Friday’s semifinals will play Saturday at 7 p.m., for the right to earn the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III Tournament.