WOOSTER, Ohio – A balanced effort, including 47 bench points, paced The College of Wooster past Allegheny College, as the No. 1 ranked team (D3hoops.com) cruised to an 88-56 victory Wednesday night in North Coast Athletic Conference action at Timken Gymnasium.

The win, coupled with Wittenberg University's 55-54 triumph over Wabash College sets up another showdown with first-place on the line between the two archrivals Saturday night in Wooster. The Fighting Scots are currently 8-0 in the NCAC, while the Tigers are at 7-0.

Wooster needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to edge Allegheny in the teams' first meeting this season, but on Wednesday, the Scots pulled away early. They scored the game's initial 10 points and steadily grew the lead from there, upping it to 19-4 and then 27-7 at the 8:37 mark of the first half. It was 43-25 at halftime.

The Gators (5-12, 2-7 NCAC) put together their best stretch of the night to begin the second, using seven unanswered points at one juncture to get within 13 (47-34). Wooster's Matt Fegan stopped the run with back-to-back 3-pointers, which kicked off a game-clinching 19-2 stretch.

With the score 66-36, the remaining excitement occurred when approximately three-quarters of the lights went out in the gym with 9:07 left on the clock. After a brief break, the two teams decided to play on and eventually the lighting returned in full as the Scots went on to seal the 32-point win.

The difference in the game was Wooster's defense, as it held Allegheny to 36.7 percent shooting from the field (18-for-49), helped induce 21 turnovers, and owned a 43-33 edge in the rebounding department. Offensively, the Scots hit 44.1 percent of their field goals (30-for-68).

Twelve Wooster players got into the scorebook, with Ian Franks, Fegan, and Mike Evans reaching double figures with 13, 12, and 11 points, respectively. Fegan's dozen came on 4-of-7 3-point shooting and Evans' 11 points marked a season high.

Also noteworthy, Bryan Wickliffe gathered up eight rebounds, and Josh Claytor and Ryan Snyder passed out four assists apiece. Claytor added nine points and five boards to his stat line, while Snyder scored eight and made four steals.

James Ness posted 13 points and eight rebounds while playing the second half with four fouls.

Tip-off for Saturday's Wittenberg-Wooster game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.