COLUMBUS, Ohio - A 16-2 second half run by the College of Wooster lifted the Fighting Scots to a 79-66 win over Gettysburg College Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament in The Capital Center.
Wooster (23-6) advances to play the winner of the Capital University-Thomas More College game at 7 p.m. Saturday in The Capital Center. The Bullets conclude their season at 18-9.
The Scots held Gettysburg without a field goal make for a 7:35 stretch in the second half, turning a 50-47 deficit with 12:12 left to a 63-52 lead with just over five minutes remaining. Gettysburg cut the deficit to six at 65-59 with 3:32 left but could get no closer down the stretch.
"I'm proud of our players, and we had an outstanding second half," said Wooster head coach Steve Moore, who notched his 600th career win. "Gettysburg had a lot of momentum at the end of the first half and we fought through it"
"It was a competitive game and we just came up short," said Gettysburg head coach George Petrie. "We didn't keep pace with them in the second half. We couldn't score and had some miscues on coverages."
Wooster guard Nathan Balch led four Scot scorers in double figures with 21 points, hitting 8-of-9 shots from the field while grabbing a team-best seven rebounds. Fellow guard Ian Franks had 18 points, and Bryan Wickliffe and Justin Hallowell chipped in with 14 points apiece.
Bullets center Andrew Powers led all players with 23 points and eight rebounds and guard Dan Capkin added 19 points.
NOTES:
Gettysburg made its fifth tournament appearance, while Wooster is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the 18th time...This was just the second meeting all-time between the two schools, with Wooster winning 57-48 on Dec. 28, 1981...Gettysburg hit six of its first nine three-pointers, while Wooster missed its first five. The Bullets made just 1-of-9 after that, though, while the Scots connected on seven of their next 10 from beyond the arc...The Bullets shot 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the field in the first half, compared to 50 percent (11-of-22) for the Fighting Scots. The first half featured seven ties and seven lead changes as neither team led by more than five points.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Gettysburg College vs College of Wooster
03/06/09 6:00 pm ET at Capital Center
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VISITORS: Gettysburg College 18-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
42 Joe Spierenburg..... f 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 3 2 2 3 1 0 25
40 Andrew Powers....... c 9-15 0-2 5-8 1 7 8 4 23 1 2 0 1 37
03 Chris Nevolo........ g 2-4 0-0 4-5 1 2 3 4 8 2 3 0 0 26
05 Dan Capkin.......... g 7-12 4-8 1-2 0 4 4 4 19 3 3 0 0 38
23 Corey Dorsey........ g 3-10 2-6 3-3 0 1 1 3 11 0 1 0 0 32
04 Kevin Kennedy....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 2 0 2 0 0 0 22
10 Jack Kern........... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
12 Cory Weissman....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 Paul Crone.......... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 8
22 Brendan Hager....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6
32 Chip Naddaff........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
33 Andrew Bohan........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
34 Kip Robson.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
50 Scott Peterson...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
52 Tim Lang............ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 2 1 3 1
Totals.............. 23-49 7-18 13-18 7 20 27 24 66 11 13 1 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-24 58.3% 2nd Half: 9-25 36.0% Game: 46.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 1-8 12.5% Game: 38.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 10-14 71.4% Game: 72.2% 2
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HOME TEAM: College of Wooster 23-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 Marty Bidwell....... f 2-6 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 4 4 5 2 0 0 20
32 Bryan Wickliffe..... f 5-7 0-0 4-5 3 2 5 3 14 4 0 1 0 31
40 Justin Hallowell.... f 4-8 1-4 5-6 0 6 6 0 14 1 3 0 1 37
22 Nathan Balch........ g 8-9 3-4 2-2 1 6 7 4 21 0 2 0 1 31
33 Ian Franks.......... g 5-10 1-1 7-13 0 3 3 4 18 4 3 0 1 36
12 Dustin Geitgey...... 2-5 2-3 2-2 0 2 2 1 8 0 0 1 2 22
20 Matt Fegan.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 8
24 Justin Warnes....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
30 Eric Robbins........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
34 Kaleb Reed.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
42 Mike Evans.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
50 Eric Fertig......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
54 Greg Ross........... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 8
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 26-47 7-15 20-28 6 22 28 18 79 14 11 2 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-22 50.0% 2nd Half: 15-25 60.0% Game: 55.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 6-9 66.7% Game: 46.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 11-16 68.8% Game: 71.4% 3
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Officials:
Technical fouls: Gettysburg College-None. College of Wooster-None.
Attendance: 1632
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Gettysburg College............ 37 29 - 66
College of Wooster............ 32 47 - 79
2009 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship - First Round
College of Wooster advances to face the winner of Thomas More/Capital
Points in the paint-GC 28,WOO 30. Points off turnovers-GC 8,WOO 15.
2nd chance points-GC 8,WOO 10. Fast break points-GC 3,WOO 7.
Bench points-GC 3,WOO 8. Score tied-9 times. Lead changed-8 times.
Last FG-GC 2nd-03:32, WOO 2nd-01:22.