The Wabash College basketball team claimed its first-ever North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season title on Saturday with a 97-75 victory at the College of Wooster.
 
The win, the 15^th in a row for the Little Giants and the 13^th consecutive victory over an NCAC team, improved the team's record to 19-3 for the season and 14-1 against conference opponents. The win assures Wabash an opening-round home game in the quarterfinals of the NCAC Tournament. Should the Little Giants win that game on Tuesday, February 22, the semifinal and championship games would all take place at Chadwick Court beginning Friday, February 25.
 
The last time Wabash claimed a conference title was in the 1997-98 season when the Little Giants won the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season championship. Wabash hosted the ICAC tournament that year and won the tournament title to advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
Saturday's victory also marked the first time Wabash has swept perennial NCAC powerhouses Wittenberg and Wooster in the same season.
 
Wabash came into Saturday's game at Wooster (15-8, 11-5 NCAC) ranked fourth in the nation in three-point shooting. The Little Giants used the long-range shot to take the road victory by connecting on 18-of-38 three-pointers for 47.4 shooting. Wabash limited Wooster to 7-of-26 from behind the arc for 26.9 percent.
 
The two teams traded early baskets in the first five minutes before three-point baskets from Jesse Hall and Vinny Buccilla lifted Wabash to a 23-17 lead. The Little Giants extended the lead to 18 points with 3:19 remaining in the first half before settling for a 15-point halftime lead at 48-33.
 
The Scots had the hot hand at the start of the second half. Wooster outscored Wabash 18-15 to open the second half and trim the Little Giants' lead to two points at 53-51. Jack Davidson drilled a three-point basket to stretch the lead back to five points. Tyler Watson and Edreece Redmond each added baskets to stretch the advantage to nine points at 60-51.
 
Wooster scored to keep the Scots within seven points before Watson and Davidson took over the game. The duo sparked a 12-2 run to put Wabash in front by 17 points at 72-55. The senior duo combined to score 35 of Wabash's 49 second-half points. Wooster made one final run to get as close as nine points with 5:20 left in the game.
 
Davidson ended any thoughts of a comeback effort. He nailed back-to-back three-point baskets to push the advantage back to 15 points to put the game away.
 
Wabash hit 56.3 percent from three-point range in the second half, hitting 9-of-16 long-range attempts.  The Little Giants also took advantage of a poor shooting effort by Wooster from the free throw line. The Scots paraded to the line throughout the game, taking 24 charity shots compared to only 14 for Wabash. However, the Little Giants hit 13 of their 14 free throw attempts. Wooster hit only 10 of its 24 attempts, including misses on the front end of three one-and-one attempts.
 
Watson, who only scored three points in the first game against Wooster that ended in a 94-80 Little Giant victory at Chadwick Court, led Wabash in scoring in Saturday's win with a season-high 30 points. He made 6-of-10 three-point attempts while shooting 10-of-15 from the field overall. Watson also handed out five assists in the win. Davidson scored 23 points with 15 coming in the second half. He also grabbed a team-best six rebounds and gave out five assists. Wabash finished the game with a total of 22 assists for the game.
 
Redmond added a season-best 13 points for Wabash. Ahmoni Jones scored 10 points before leaving the game early in the second half.
 
Five Scots scored in double figures led by the 14-point efforts of Turner Kurt Jamir Billings.
 
Wabash closes out the regular season with a pair of games this week, beginning with a road contest Wednesday at 8 p.m. at DePauw. The Little Giants play host to Kenyon College on Saturday, February 19, at 2 p.m. in the regular-season finale.