GRANVILLE, Ohio-- After a 75-69 upset win over No. 2 seed Wabash on Tuesday night, the Denison men's basketball team has advanced to the semifinals of the 2020 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.
The seventh-seeded Big Red will face third-seeded Wooster at 7:30 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 28) at Pam Evans-Smith Arena on the campus of Wittenberg University. The top-seeded Wittenberg Tigers will serve as the host for Friday's semifinals and Saturday's championship game. They will face Oberlin in the first semifinal matchup at 5:30 p.m.
The Big Red is the third No. 7 seed in the 35-year history of the conference tournament to win a quarterfinal matchup against a No. 2 seed, joining Allegheny (2009) and Ohio Wesleyan (1996). Denison punched its ticket to its fourth NCAC semifinal in five years by going on a 9-0 run in the final minute of the game. Freeman Brou broke a 66-66 tie with a 3-pointer with 1:03 remaining. Conor Fenton followed with a steal and a three-point play at the other end. A basket by Brou after an offensive rebound with 26 seconds left put the Big Red on top by eight, sealing up the win.
Fenton scored 26 points and had nine rebounds while Brou finished with 13 points and nine boards. Matt Gerics added 12 points off the bench. Denison was 12-of-24 from 3-point range. Denison enters the semifinals on a season-long three-game winning streak. Over the last two games, DU has been light's out from long range, going 29-of-52 (.558) on 3-point tries against Ohio Wesleyan and Wabash.
This is the final season for longtime Wooster head coach Steve Moore and the Fighting Scots are looking to send him out on a high note. They defeated No. 6 seed Allegheny, 92-66 on Tuesday night thanks to 35 points from Danyon Hempy. The senior is averaging 23.3 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field.
Denison and Wooster split the regular-season series with each team winning on their home court. On January 24, the Big Red knocked off the then 14th ranked Fighting Scots 72-71 behind 21 points from Brou and 14 from Fenton and Jack Coulter.
Wooster returned the favor on Feb. 12 with a 93-72 win at Timken Gymnasium. Dontae Williams scored 25 to lead the Scots while Trenton Tipton and Hempy followed with 21 points.
This is the ninth time Denison and Wooster have met in the NCAC Tournament and the fourth time the two teams have clashed in the semifinals of the tournament. Wooster is 2-1 against the Big Red in their previous semifinal matchups that took place in 1998, 2016 and 2017. Denison defeated the Fighting Scots 92-81 in overtime in 2016 en route to the program's first conference tournament title.
Tickets for Friday's semifinal will be $10 for adults and $5 for children (18 and under). Students with a valid NCAC institution ID will be admitted free of charge.
