The Wabash College and College of Wooster men's basketball teams will meet in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game for the third consecutive season. The Little Giants earned a berth in the 2024 title game after dispatching Denison in Friday evening's semifinal contest 78-63 at Chadwick Court.
 
Wabash (19-8) and Wooster (18-9) played for the 2022 title at Chadwick Court, with the Little Giants claiming their first NCAC regular season and conference tournament titles with an 85-84 overtime victory. Wabash won the 2023 tournament crown with an 81-80 win at Wooster. On Saturday, the two teams face off again with a trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament in the balance.
 
The Little Giants earned their spot in the finals by leading from start to finish against Denison (15-12) in Friday's semifinal pairing. Wabash got 14 points from Vinny Buccilla and 12 points from Sam Comer, Avery Beaver, and Edreece Redmond. Redmond came off the bench to hit 8-of-9 free throw attempts to go with two baskets. The Little Giants shot 49 percent from the field as a team, making 25 of 51 shot attempts.
 
The Wabash bench provided 32 points in the victory. In addition to the 12 points from Redmond, the Little Giants got eight points from Rich Brooks and seven from Noah Hupmann. Hupmann also broke the NCAC Tournament record with his 11^th blocked shot in two games after finishing the night with four rejections. He tied the NCAC single-game tournament record on Tuesday with seven blocks in the win over Kenyon. Hupmann also snared six rebounds as part of a 37-board night for Wabash.
 
The Little Giants raced out to a 16-6 lead in the first seven minutes and never looked back. Denison got a three-pointer from Nick Heath to cut the advantage to seven points, but a 10-0 scoring run put Wabash up 26-9 with 8:32 left in the first half. The Little Giants took its largest lead of the half with a pair of free throws from Randy Kelley in the final seconds of the period for a 46-25 halftime lead.
 
Denison got as close as 14 points with 8:31 remaining in the ball game, but a monstrous dunk from the seven-foot, two-inch Hupmann ended any chance of a comeback by the Big Red as Wabash claimed the 15-point home victory.  
 
Wabash held the Denison to 33.3 percent shooting from the field (18 of 54) and 29.6 percent from three-point range (8 of 27). Ricky Radtke led the Big Red with 17 points. Cameron Smith added 16 points in the losing effort.

Wooster won the first semifinal game 79-62 over Wittenberg to earn a spot in the title game. 
 
Wabash and Wooster meet at 4 p.m. Saturday at Chadwick Court in the NCAC Championship game. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children 18 years of age and under. Students from NCAC institutions with a valid college ID are admitted free of charge. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. No advance ticket sales are available, and all sales are cash only.