GRANVILLE, Ohio (February 21, 2023) – Thanks to the game-winning fastbreak layup by Scotty Dean in the final second of the game, the fourth-seeded Denison University men's basketball team earned a 65-63 win over fifth-seeded Wittenberg University in their North Coast Athletic Conference quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday night inside Livingston Gymnasium.

In what was a rematch of last season's NCAC quarterfinal matchup at Wittenberg, the two teams went back and forth at each other throughout the second half and seemed to match each other basket for basket.

Starting with a layup by Emmett Burnside with just under 12 minutes left to play to give Denison its first lead of the second half (50-49), the lead then changed hands nine more times until a 3-pointer by Tyler Miller tied it at 63-63 in the final three minutes.

From there, both teams missed from 3-point range before four straight turnovers ending with a steal by Cameron Smith gave Denison the ball back with one minute remaining.

A missed jumper by the Big Red with just over 30 seconds left gave Wittenberg the chance to win it with the clock winding down.

That is where things got crazy as after a missed layup by the Tigers in the final 10 seconds, Burnside grabbed the defense rebound and quickly got the ball to Smith, who found Dean streaking straight down the middle of the court for the ensuing acrobatic layup with 0.8 seconds on the clock.

Needing a full-court pass to get a good look from three to try and steal the win, the Tigers got the shot they were looking for, but it was airballed in desperation.

Denison was led in the scoring column by Ricky Radtke and Darren Rubin both with 14 points. Radtke added a game-high 13 rebounds and made his presence felt defensively with a pair of blocks while Rubin dished out five assists.

Dean finished with seven points but was the ultimate hero in the end.

With the electric atmosphere inside Livingston Gymnasium behind them, the Big Red got off to a great start and scored the first basket of the game as a big block by Burnside was followed up by a midrange fallaway jumper by Rubin.

Denison ultimately took a 6-0 lead to start the game as Radtke and Burnside both added layups in the opening minutes.

A 3-pointer by Dean made it an 11-3 start for Denison three and a half minutes in, and then a block by Miller led to a left-handed layup by Will Hunter to make it 15-3 Big Red and cap a 9-0 Denison run.

The Big Red continued to turn defense into offense as a steal and fastbreak dunk by Smith made it 19-10, and then a steal by Dean led to a layup by Nick Heath to make it 21-10 eight and a half minutes into the game.

Less than a minute later, Smith made the assist from the paint on a 3-pointer by Heath as Denison doubled up Wittenberg at 24-12, and then a steal by Heath was finished off with a putback layup by Smith to give Denison the largest lead of the game at 14 points (26-12).

However, after a 3-pointer by Aidan King assisted by Burnside made it 29-17 Big Red with nine minutes left in the first half, the Tigers clawed back into it with an 8-0 run ending with a four-point play to make it only a four-point margin (29-25) with under seven minutes remaining in the opening period.

Then in the final three minutes of the first half, a 3-pointer from the corner by the Tigers tied the score up at 36-36, a then a second-chance 3-pointer gave Wittenberg its first lead of the game (39-36) in the final minute as the Big Red went scoreless for the final three minutes of the opening period.

In the second half, both teams were 2-for-5 from three while Denison shot 10-for-19 (52.63 percent) and Wittenberg shot 11-for-19 (57.89 percent). The difference, however, came at the charity strip as the Big Red made seven of their eight attempts at the foul line in the second half while the Tigers were unable to earn a trip to the line in the final period.

Denison, which has now won six of its last seven games, improves to 15-10 overall while Wittenberg's season comes to an end with a 13-12 record. Denison has now advanced to the semifinals in three straight seasons and in six of the last seven NCAC Tournaments. In addition, in his first three seasons as the head coach of the Big Red, Chris Sullivan is now 5-3 with two NCAC quarterfinal wins against his alma mater.

With the win, the Big Red will face the No. 1 seed, the College of Wooster (20-5), at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 24, in Wooster, Ohio. During the final week of the regular season, the Big Red defeated the Fighting Scots by a final score of 78-70 in Granville. In the other semifinal, the defending NCAC tourney champion and No. 2-seeded Wabash College (19-7) will face No. 6-seeded DePauw University (18-8).