Well, it could have started off better for the Scots.
In their first official game of the season, the Fighting Scots fell to Albion College 57-55.† Despite never trailing by more than four points, and having the lead for more than 18 minutes in the second half, the Scots were susceptible to a late Albion push. The Britons scored nine points to the two scored by the Scots to give them the lead and eventually the win.
With 31 seconds remaining in the game, Albion sophomore Chris Hutton sank a three-pointer to give Albion the lead 56-54.† With control of the ball, Wooster ran the court, but chances to push the game into overtime seemed to evaporate when Bryan Wickliffe í11 missed a lay up with the game clock almost expired.† After a couple of quick fouls on both sides to prevent big scores, the Britons walked away with the 57-55 victory.
The ending of the game was not the big story for Wickliffe, however, who led all scorers with 18 points and 10 rebounds, giving him the second double-double of his career.† Another strong performance for the Scots came from Justin Hallowell í12, who continued to show his dominance from behind the three-point line, sinking three-of-seven and tallying 11 points on the day.
The problem for Wooster was the teams shooting percentage from the field ó 33 percent.† This equaled the season low from the year before.† Wooster only made 18 of their 54 shots, with only Wickliffe and Greg Ross í12 ó who made his only shot ó shooting over 50 percent.
Also troubling the Scots were turnovers ó the 18 they suffered was among their highest single game totals from last season.
The Scots look to bounce back on a positive note with the Al Van Wie/Rotary Classic starting today.† The Scots play Carnegie Mellon University tonight at 8 p.m., with a game tomorrow against either the University of St. Thomas or Heidelberg University.† St. Thomas went 30 games without a loss last year before losing in the NCAA tournament to eventual champion Washington University in St. Louis.