Men’s basketball starts hot
Travis Marmon
Sports Editor
The Wooster men’s basketball team has once again found itself off to a hot start, winning its first three games against Defiance College, Anderson University (Ind.) and Wilmington College.
The ninth-ranked Fighting Scots earned double-digit victories over both of their opponents during the Al Van Wie/Rotary Classic at Timken Gymnasium on Nov. 18 and 19. Defiance (2-2) played tight in the first half, facing a 35-30 deficit at the break behind 10 points from Mason Roth. In the second half, Wooster’s offense exploded, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 56-37 as Ryan Snyder ’14 scored 13 of his 15 total points coming off the bench.
With less than 16 minutes left in the game, the Scots led only 42-37, but baskets from Kenny DeBoer ’15 and Josh Claytor ’13 started a 29-12 run that gave Wooster an insurmountable 71-49 lead with eight minutes to go. Defiance trimmed the lead to 12 with six minutes left after going on a 10-0 run, but the Scots pulled away, ultimately winning 91-67. The Yellow Jackets were dominated inside, outscored 48-20 in the paint as Wooster shot 55.7 percent from the field. Xavier Brown ’15 led all scorers with 18 points.
The Scots offense was slowed against Anderson (3-3), but the Ravens were even more stagnant against a tenacious Wooster defense, hitting just 31.5 percent from the field in a 70-54 loss. Brown once again led all scorers with 22 points, and Matt Fegan ’12 was right behind him with 20.
The Scots held a 28-24 lead going into halftime and never trailed in the second half, but the lead was not comfortable until late. With less than eight minutes left in the game, Wooster led only 43-40, but Snyder hit a three-pointer to start an 8-0 run and make the advantage 51-40. The Ravens quickly cut the deficit to 53-46 before a 10-0 Wooster run made it 63-46 and put the game out of reach.
The offense shone once again when the Scots traveled to Wilmington, Ohio on Sunday to take on the Wilmington Quakers (1-4) for their first road game of the season. Wooster never trailed in the game, setting the tone by jumping out to a 14-5 lead after five minutes of play. However, Wilmington showed that they could hang with the Scots by tying the game at 18 apiece four minutes later.
Leading just 21-20 with just under 10 minutes to go in the first half, Wooster went on a 16-4 run with points from seven different players to gain a 37-24 lead. The Fighting Scots went into halftime with a 41-31 advantage and held off the Quakers from there. Five minutes into the second half, they found themselves with their largest lead of the game, 53-37, but Wilmington went on an 18-6 run to cut it to 59-55 with more than eight minutes left in the game.
Justin Hallowell ’12 sunk two three-pointers in less than a minute as the Scots started to pull away. Wooster never looked back from there, finishing with an 83-74 victory. Brown again led all scorers with 20 points, while Hallowell contributed 15 and Fegan added 13 of his own.
The Scots opened conference play against Kenyon College (2-2) on Wednesday after press time. They travel to Adrian College (4-1) in Adrian, Mich. tomorrow for a 3 p.m. game, before returning home on Wednesday to play rival Wittenberg University (1-1) at 7:30 p.m.