There was a deflated feeling in Timken Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. As a small group of fans from Wabash College chanted in excitement as Wooster fans slowly shuffled out of the building feeling the very unusual sensation of their team: losing.
The Scots’ quest for a perfect season was finally brought to an end by the Little Giants (17-4, 9-4 NCAC), who won 69-68 in overtime as Wes Smith ripped the ball out of the hands of Ian Franks ’11 with one second left to play.
Wooster (20-1, 11-1 NCAC) battled from behind for most of the second half and overtime in one of the season’s most exciting clashes.
With the teams tied at 34 at halftime, Bryan Wickliffe ’11 established himself as the player who would carry the Scots for the rest of the game, grabbing an offensive rebound and converting a three-point play to give Wooster a 37-34 lead with 19 minutes left, and adding to his 25-point total that would lead all scorers. However, Aaron Zinnernan’s three-pointer with 16 minutes left would give Wabash a 42-39 lead.
The Little Giants stayed in front until Franks capped an 8-0 run with one minute left to put the Scots ahead 63-62. Wickliffe would head to the line on the next possession, but he missed the first of his two free throws, which proved to be crucial.
Justin Warnes ’12 committed a foul on the ensuing Wabash possession, and Smith knocked down both free throws to tie the game at 64. Nathan Balch ’11 missed the mark on an attempt at a game-winning jumper as time ran out in regulation.
The Little Giants jumped out to a 69-64 lead in overtime on two baskets by Derek Bailey. Wickliffe hit two free throws and a jump shot to make it a 69-68 game, and Franks gathered a defensive rebound with 13 seconds left and tried to set up the last shot.
Unfortunately, the shot was never taken and the ball wound up in Smith’s hands for his fifth steal of the game, sealing the victory for the Little Giants.
The Scots are now tied for first place in the conference with Wittenberg University (15-5, 11-1 NCAC), and played Oberlin College (2-20, 1-12 NCAC) on Wednesday after press time. They will play at Wittenberg tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in the hopes of taking the top spot in the NCAC back outright.
While the men now have their first conference loss, the women’s basketball team is still searching for a victory. On Feb. 3, the Scots (2-18, 0-10 NCAC) lost in a valiant comeback effort on the road against Hiram College (12-8, 4-5 NCAC).
Wooster faced a nine-point deficit at halftime, but Taylor Keegan ’11 scored 14 of her 18 total points in the second half, as the Scots outscored the Terriers 39-34 in the period. Wooster also held Hiram to less than 30 percent shooting from the field all game.
Unfortunately, the strong defensive play and second half rally were not enough to take down the Terriers, as Hiram held on to win 64-60.
On Saturday, the Scots took on undefeated, top-ten ranked Denison University (21-0, 10-0 NCAC) in Timken Gymnasium. The Big Red played strong in the first half, taking a 32-15 lead into the break.
Wooster outscored Denison in the second half, 31-29, but the deficit was too much to overcome and they ultimately fell 61-46. The key reasons were in the little aspects of the game.
Although the Scots forced 16 turnovers, they only made five points out of them, whereas the Big Red scored 20 points off of 13 Wooster turnovers. Denison† had an additional 14 second-chance points off of 20 offensive rebounds.
The Scots played Oberlin College (7-13, 2-7 NCAC) on Wednesday after press time, and travel to Wittenberg University (10-11, 5-5 NCAC) tomorrow for a 2 p.m. tip against the archrival Tigers.