The men’s basketball team extended its school-record 18-0 start by winning a classic against rival Wittenberg University on Saturday in Timken Gymnasium. The Scots looked unstoppable after crushing Oberlin College 82-55 on Jan. 12, beating Denison Univerity 72-64 on Jan. 15, and dismantling Allegheny College (5-13, 2-8 NCAC) 88-56 on Jan. 19. But this match-up against the Tigers was anything but easy.
Wittenberg (12-5, 7-1 NCAC) scored the first eight points of the game, but Wooster responded with a 9-1 run of its own. The teams went back and forth throughout the first half, both struggling to make shots. The Scots shot over 34 percent from the field during the half (including an abysmal 1-13 on three-pointers), while the Tigers managed just over 31 percent shooting. Wittenberg led 27-26 heading into the break
Although the teams played evenly for the first five minutes of the second half, Wittenberg’s Cameron Walton hit a three with 14:09 left to take a 41-33 lead. The Scots did not get within eight points of the Tigers until Bryan Wickliffe ’11 (who earned his 1,000th career point that night) hit a layup with 8:11 left to make it 49-42. That was the beginning of Wooster’s thrilling comeback.
Down 54-49 with just under three minutes to go, Ian Franks ’11 drained two free throws to cut the deficit to three points. After the Scots forced a turnover on the next Wittenberg possession, Matt Fegan ’12 found Justin Hallowell ’12 for a game-tying three-pointer at the 1:55 mark, which lead to an eruption of noise from the crowd of over 3,000.
The Tigers’ Michael Cooper missed a jumper on the ensuing possession, and Franks converted a three-point play to take a 57-54 lead. Hallowell made it 59-54 with 42 seconds remaining, and it was all the Scots needed to secure a victory over their biggest rival.
They played defense and shot free throws the rest of the way to finish with a 65-58 victory, putting them at 9-0 in NCAC play. Franks led all scorers with 17 points. Nathan Balch ’11 had 15, Hallowell scored 14 and Wickliffe added 12 more.
The teams meet again in Springfield, Ohio on Feb. 12. The Scots travelled to Kenyon College (8-10, 4-5 NCAC) on Wednesday after press time, and will make the trip out to Hiram College (8-9, 2-6 NCAC) on Feb. 2 to take on the Terriers.
Unfortunately, the women’s team has not been experiencing the same success as the men’s team. The Scots (2-15, 0-7 NCAC) are on a five-game losing streak, with all five games ending with double-digit deficits. On Saturday afternoon at Timken Gymnasium, Wooster took on Wittenberg (9-8, 4-3 NCAC) in a match that resembled the men’s game between the two schools but with opposite results. The teams were tied at 40 apiece with 9:06 left in the game, but the Tigers went on a 21-6 run in the final nine minutes to close out the Scots, 61-46. Jessica Wingen ’13 led the team with 15 points, while Ashley Lindemann ’14 and Suvi Puripattarapan ’14 each contributed seven.
The loss was one of the closer games of their last stretch, during which the Scots have been defeated 80-46 by Allegheny, 73-61 by Denison, 85-40 by Kenyon College and 71-41 by Oberlin. The women hope to end their losing streak and get their first conference victory at Timken Gymnasium against the Kenyon Ladies (10-8, 4-3 NCAC) tomorrow at 2 p.m.