WOOSTER, OH – Wabash erased a 13-point, second-half deficit at Wooster Saturday afternoon to take a 74-72 lead with two seconds remaining. A buzzer-beating three-point basket sent the Little Giants to a 75-74 loss and ended the team's hopes of earning a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season title.
 
Wabash (18-7, 11-5 NCAC) trailed 34-30 at the half, only to see Wooster (19-5, 13-3 NCAC) go on a 5-0 run to open the second half of action. The Scots moved in front 47-34 with 15:53 left to play the Little Giants mounted their first comeback effort. Wooster regained its 13-point on two different occasions, with the last coming at 64-51 with 7:08 remaining on the game clock.
 
Ahmoni Jones started the Wabash rally with a pair of free throws, followed by a three-point basket from Edreece Redmond to cut the lead to eight points. Wooster pushed the lead back to double digits at 71-61 with 2:51 left to play. Vinny Buccilla scored three of his career-best 26 points to bring Wabash to within seven points. Another Redmond basket made it a five-point game with 2:17 left on the clock.
 
Jones scored two free throws to make the score 71-68 with 92 seconds remaining. Bucilla got the ball back with a steal to lead to a Sam Comer basket with 1:08 left to play in a 71-70 contest in favor of Wooster. Wabash fouled on the next trip down the floor, but the Scots hit one of two free-throw attempts to claim a two-point lead at 72-70. Buccilla provided the late heroics, diving the lane to tie the score at 72-72 with 49 seconds on the game clock.
 
Wooster missed a three-point attempt with 14 seconds left that Redmond corralled. The Little Giants scored on the other end of the floor to take its only lead of the second half at 74-72 on a driving basket by freshman Josh Whack with two seconds showing on the game clock. Wooster threw a length-of-the-court pass knocked out of bounds by Wabash, setting up an inbound play near the Scots' basket for one final shot attempt.
 
Wooster found Turner Kurt on the left wing, who faked, then dribbled right before nailing the game-winning shot ahead of the horn to give the Scots the one-point victory and the regular-season NCAC crown by two games over Wabash in the final standings.
 
The Little Giants earn the number-two seed in the upcoming NCAC Men's Basketball Tournament and will play Hiram College at home on Tuesday, February 21, at Chadwick Court. The official tipoff time and ticket information for the game will be announced on Monday. The highest remaining seed among the four NCAC quarterfinal games will host the semifinal and championship games on February 24 and 25.
 
The Little Giants had three players score in double figures, led by Buccilla, who had a career-best 26 points and four steals. Jones tacked on 14 points and six rebounds, and Whack added 12 points from the bench.
 
Wabash forced 13 Wooster turnovers while committing ten themselves in Saturday's game. The Little Giants turned those takeaways into 12 points on the other end of the floor. Buccilla's four steals led the way for Wabash.
 
How It Happened
After falling behind 19-15, Wabash went on a 5-0 run with 7:18 left in the first half to take a 20-19 lead before entering halftime down 34-30.

Wooster took the 71-61 advantage before Wabash went on a 9-0 run, finished by Sam Comer's jumper, to shrink the deficit to 71-70 with 1:08 to go in the contest.
 
Game Notes
» Wabash shot 25-of-54 from the field (46.3 percent) and finished 6-of-23 from three-point range (26.1 percent). The Little Giants shot 18-of-27 from the free-throw line (66.7 percent).
» Wooster connected on 26-of-58 shot attempts overall (44.8 percent) and hit 13-of-30 three-point tries (43.3 percent). The Scots made 10-of-17 free throws.
» Wooster won the rebound battle 35-33. Jones paced Wabash with six rebounds.


 
This article was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.