Travis Marmon
Sports Editor
Although the Wooster men’s basketball team capped their second seven-game winning streak of the season with a victory over Ohio Wesleyan University on Feb. 8, the Scots’ streak was ended in another heartbreaking loss to archrival Wittenberg University on Saturday, keeping them in second place overall in the NCAC.
At Ohio Wesleyan (17-6, 9-5 NCAC), Wooster faced the toughest test of its winning streak in an ugly defensive struggle. The Battling Bishops were all over the Scots in the first half, jumping out to a 6-0 lead and holding a 30-15 advantage with six minutes left in the period. Wooster shot only 10-of-30 from the field in the first half, and Ohio Wesleyan entered the break with a 37-27 lead.
The tables turned in the second half, however, as the Scots turned in their most dominant defensive performance of the season. Facing a 43-31 deficit with 13 minutes to play, Wooster went on a 16-2 run to take a 47-45 lead with just over three minutes left. Clutch free throw shooting from Matt Fegan ’12 and Justin Warnes ’12 sealed the game 54-50. The Bishops only scored 13 points in the entire second half, going 5-of-26 shooting (including 0-for-7 from three-point range). Justin Hallowell ’12 led the way for the Fighting Scots with 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Wooster made another valiant comeback last Saturday at Wittenberg (18-5, 12-2 NCAC), but it was not enough as the Tigers dropped the Scots 68-62 in overtime. Wooster was once again completely outplayed in the first half, entering the break down 34-18, having gone only 8-for-26 from the field.
In the second half, the Scots made their first four shots (including two three-pointers) as they began to find an offensive rhythm. Wooster began to chip away at the Tigers’ lead, going on an 11-0 run to make it 41-37 with over 15 minutes to play. Wittenberg did not relent, however, and Wooster was not allowed to tie it back up for nearly the entire half. With the Fighting Scots down 56-54 with less than a minute to play, Jalen Goodwin ’15 blocked Michael Cooper’s layup, and Clayton Black missed a jump shot at the end of the shot clock. Hallowell grabbed the rebound to give Wooster the ball with 18 seconds left. Following a timeout, Xavier Brown ’15 hit a fade away jumper to tie the game at 56 as time expired.
Unfortunately for the Scots, Wittenberg retook control in overtime. After the Tigers made two free throws, they had the lead for the rest of the period. Wittenberg had a 65-62 advantage with 37 seconds to play, but Michael Cooper iced the game from the free throw line and Wooster was unable to score for the rest of the game. The loss put them two games behind first place in the conference. Brown led all scorers with 24 points in the defeat.
The Scots played at home against Allegheny College (5-18, 3-11 NCAC) on Wednesday after press time. They will wrap up the regular season tomorrow in Timken Gymnasium against DePauw University (13-10, 7-7 NCAC) at 3 p.m. The NCAC Tournament will begin on Tuesday.