Scots play best when it matters most against archrival
- Tom Rife: Livin' the Team
- January 24, 2020
- 957
When the undefeated number-two team in NCAA Div. III men’s basketball is coming to your zip code to play, that’s a game that definitely demands checking into. When that contest happens to involve The College of Wooster and Wittenberg University, tickets and parking spaces get even tougher to rope.
And so it was that, despite a sticky overnight snowfall that turned local streets and highways into a soupy slush by tip-off at 4 p.m., 2,559 spectators did check into Timken Gymnasium on Jan. 18 to witness yet another epic showdown between the Fighting Scots and Tigers, North Coast Athletic Conference rivals who clashed for the 120th time.
Many in attendance donned their “white-out” white, and the vast majority cheered relentlessly for the home team, regardless of the prevailing pigment in their attire. Only a few hundred wearing — and seeing — red departed in a state of despair, as coach Moore’s Scots, then ranked number 20, used a fiery first half to fuel a 98-86 torching of Numero Duo.
In the words of lyricist Ray Gilbert (not a sports writer), “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Zip-A-Dee-A, My oh my what a wonderful day.”
Ironically, in the rivalry that began in 1920, Wooster and Wittenberg did not collide on the hardwood in 1946, the year singer James Baskett introduced the Allie Wrubel-composed ditty in the Disney live action/animated movie, “Song of the South.”
Scots’ senior Danyon Hempy (from Waldo, which obviously is not in the South) enacted the happiest response immediately after the final buzzer, jumping up and down, waving his arms in jumping-jack fashion and urging fans to cheer even louder.
“It’s Wittenberg vs. Wooster. There’s nothing you can say about it. You just have to go out there and play,” Hempy said after emerging from the team bunker.
And play Hempy and the rest of the Scots who checked into the action did. His 27-point performance was tops among the five Wooster players in double figures. Dominating the paint, Dontae Williams finished with 21, followed by Trenton Tipton with 15, Brandon Styers with 12 and Keonn Scott with 10.
It was unselfish basketball at its best, as Wooster totaled 25 assists.
“That’s amazing on 38 field goals,” Moore said after his 859th career coaching victory. Enjoying his 39th and final season, Moore finds himself in the running for selection into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in February. “We had a lot of guys step up tonight.”
For the record, eight of the 10 Scots who played got into the scoring column. All but four had at least three assists. Five grabbed at least three rebounds, paced by physical guard Najee Hardaway with six caroms. He also had four steals.
For the second time this season — and fourth time overall — Hempy was named the NCAC Player of the Week. Prior to punishing Wittenberg with 11-of-15 shooting, he had 28 points on Wednesday in a narrow win over Oberlin. He logged 40 minutes of playing time, going 10 of 16 from the floor.
But if ever Wooster needed to put its depth on display, this was the moment.
“I think overall we knew we had some good young guys. It was just a matter of getting them time on the floor where they could build confidence in themselves,” said Doug Cline, associate head coach and the warrior who will take the head role upon Moore’s retirement at the end of the academic year. “We had to build depth; there’s no doubt about it. That’s the emphasis of our program: to just keep getting better and better every day, to get new guys to take on new roles.”
The first 20 minutes saw the Scots shoot 67.7 percent from the floor, which included 7 of 10 from behind the arc. The Tigers, who also finished with five men in double figures, shot just 34.4 percent from the floor in the first half, which included sinking only two of their twelve 3-point attempts.
Thanks to the 15-point differential from long range, Wooster led 52-33 at the intermission. The 19-point margin did not guarantee a victory, but it certainly set the tone. If the final score was going to get to a 90 target score, the Scots would need to put up 38 more points and the Tigers were going to have to drop in 57.
The Scots had no intention of taking their foot off the gas, however, extending the gap to 24 in the first six and half minutes of the second half. A Tipton lay-in seconds later made the lead 26. At that stage it began to feel like the Scots were safely beyond the point of no return.
The Wooster victory helped soothe the sting of back-to-back losses to Wittenberg last February — both on the COW court. The one that hurt the most was the 79-75 loss in the NCAC tournament championship game. The Tigers were loud in their post-game celebration and took team photos in the middle of the Timken court.
“We didn’t want to have that feeling again,” Williams said.
The stirring triumph gave the Scots a 61-59 overall edge in the series. The outcome also was reflected in the latest d3hoops.com national rankings. Wooster moved up six spots to number 14 while Wittenberg dropped five spots to number seven.
The crowd was large, yes, but it was far from the largest in the history of the squabble. On Feb. 3, 2007, the over-capacity turnout of 3,776 was based on the number of tickets sold. Wittenberg, then ranked number 11, topped number-two Wooster 74-71. Since attendance figures for the series have been kept, the turnout has reached at least 3,000 twenty-two times.
Remember that when Timken underwent a $5 million remodeling project prior to the 2018-19 season, roughly 300 seats were lost in the new configuration. It now has a seating capacity of 2,614 — the second-largest of any North Coast Athletic Conference school. Saturday’s attendance of 2,559 fans marked the 10th crowd of at least 2,500 in the last 11 Wooster-Wittenberg games played at Timken.
Wooster and Wittenberg will tangle again on Feb. 15, this time in Springfield. The loyal members of the Rebounders support organization have been planning their annual bus trip for months.
Will it be another Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Day?