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MARIETTA, Ohio — Misericordia had expected a challenge. In all likelihood, the toughest of the season.
But not this. Not an 84-59 blitzing from Wooster, which played well above even the team’s No. 22 national ranking.
What had felt like plenty of other games for the Cougars this year quickly dissolved after halftime. Misericordia’s season went along with it, bowing out in Friday’s first round of the NCAA tournament at Marietta College’s Ban Johnson Arena.
Wooster was the only team all season to score 80 points on the Cougars. No one else had topped 77.
The Fighting Scots shot 53 percent from the floor for the game. And after a competitive first half, they clamped down defensively, holding Misericordia to just 13 points in the first 13 minutes of the second to wrap things up early.
“I really didn’t see this coming,” Cougars coach Trevor Woodruff said. “I thought our preparation was spot on. I thought our kids were in the right frame of mind. We weren’t too tight. We weren’t too loose. I thought we were even-keeled. Focused.
“That just speaks to our opponent. I think we’re a pretty good team and they just handled us tonight.”
But it wasn’t that way from the opening tip.
The Cougars managed to shake off an 11-0 Wooster run midway through the first half. A scrambling putback by James Hawk pulled Misericordia within 41-37 in the final minute and momentum was building.
But Wooster’s Evan Pannell knocked down a three in the final seconds — Woodruff argued that he was open courtesy of an illegal screen — and the Cougars were down seven instead of four at the break.
“Yeah, that was big,” said Scots forward Alex LaLonde, who hit four of Wooster’s nine threes on the day. “Any time you get that momentum going and take into the half really helps.”
Little went right for the Cougars (21-7) from there.
They missed their first six shots of the second half and two free throws as well. Wooster quickly swelled the lead to double digits, where it remained the rest of the way.
“(In the second half), they kinda punched us in the face,” said senior Joe Busacca, who led the Cougars with 17 points in his final game. “And we just couldn’t get back.
“That’s just a great team. … They always made the extra pass. They had my head spinning on defense. You’re just thinking, ‘How are they finding these guys open?’ “
“Maybe they got a little tired,” long-time Scots coach Steve Moore said. “Maybe our depth was a factor there.”
No doubt. The Scots had 10 players in for at least 11 minutes — all seeing the court well before the game got out of hand.
“And they all could score,” Woodruff said. “They were all dangerous.”
Four Wooster players finished in double figures, led by standout center Dan Fanelly, who finished with 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds for a double-double.
For the Cougars, senior Steve Ware had 12 points, playing through pain down the stretch of his last game. Erik Kerns added 11 off the bench while Hawk finished with eight points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
Misericordia had hung tough with two other NCAA tournament teams during the regular season, suffering a narrow loss to No. 17 Richard Stockton and edging No. 21 Scranton.
In those games, Stockton scored 67 on 41 percent shooting and a shorthanded Royals squad had just 44 points, going 26 percent from the floor.
The Cougars had frustrated opposing shooters all season long, at one point leading the nation in field goal percentage defense. They were ranked second coming into the tournament.
Wooster struggled like all the rest for the first five minutes.
But then the outside shots started falling for the Scots, who had gone 0 for 8 from long-range in their last game, a loss in their conference tournament finals.
They were determined to prove it was a fluke.
They hit 6 of 12 threes in the first half, including Pannell’s buzzer-beater that made it 44-37. The 44 points were the most the Cougars allowed before halftime all season long and the third most in any half this season.
“It was huge,” LaLonde said. “I’d felt like there was a lid on the bucket the past few games. But we weren’t missing by much. I just knew it was a matter of time and the lid was going to come off.”
“That’s the story,” Woodruff said. “They made everything in sight. We didn’t make much of anything. And that’s what happens.”
NCAA tournament first round
at Marietta College
No. 22 Wooster 84, Misericordia 59
MISERICORDIA (59) — Joe Busacca 5-18 7-8 17, Jamie Egan 0-3 2-2 2, Griffin Sponaugle 2-8 0-2 6, Steve Ware 5-14 2-4 12, James Hawk 3-5 2-4 8, Jesse Urich 0-2 0-0 0, Michael Brunson 0-1 0-0 0, Anthony Sergio 0-1 0-0 0, Ray Savage 0-0 0-0 0, Patrick Widdoss 1-2 1-1 2, Jake Szczecina 0-0 0-0 0, Kadir McDonald 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Bernath 0-0 0-0 0, Erik Kerns 5-8 1-1 11. Totals 21-62 15-22 59.
WOOSTER (84) — Xavier Brown 6-8 0-0 13, Spencer Williams 2-9 0-0 4, Evan Pannell 4-11 0-0 10, Alex LaLonde 6-10 0-0 16, Dan Fanelly 9-11 1-3 19, Nick Nossaman 0-1 0-0 0, Chris Logsdon 0-1 0-0 0, Jalen Goodwin 0-0 4-5 4, Milt Davis 3-6 0-0 8, Ari Stern 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Wobbe 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Belinsky 1-1 0-0 0, Josh Kipfer 4-7 0-0 8. Totals 35-66 5-8 84.
Halftime — Wooster, 44-37
Three-point goals — MU 2-17 (Sponaugle 2-7, Sergio 0-1, Urich 0-2, Egan 0-3, Busacca 0-4); CW 9-25 (LaLonde 4-7, Davis 2-4, Pannell 2-6, Brown 1-1, Fanelly 0-1, Nossaman 0-1, Logsdon 0-1, Stern 0-1, Williams 0-3)