MARIETTA, Ohio – No. 3 ranked Wooster withstood two last second three-point attempts by Marietta College and escaped Ban Johnson Arena with an 81-78 victory Wednesday (Nov. 27) evening. The Pioneers, ranked No. 23, suffered their first loss of the season and dropped to 4-1 overall, while the Scots improved to 4-0 on the season.

Wooster's Doug Thorpe hit a pair of free throws with seven seconds left on the clock to put the Scots up by three, 81-78. Marietta pushed the ball up the floor and Garrett Stephenson took a three-pointer from the left wing that was blocked out of bounds by Dan Fanelly with 1.2 seconds remaining.

Andy Dollman inbounded the ball for the Pioneers on the left side and threw the ball across the court to A.J. Davis on the right wing for the final shot. Davis's shot was in midair when the buzzer sounded as the ball glanced off the iron.

The one-two punch of Wooster's Thorpe and Xavier Brown kept the Pioneers from taking control of the game. Thorpe led all scorers with 21 points, while Brown poured in 20 despite limited playing time in the first half due to foul trouble.

With 13 ties and 17 lead changes, the game mirrored a boxing match with two heavyweights going toe-to-toe until the final buzzer. The Fighting Scots' biggest lead of the game was six points and Marietta's was only three.

Dollman scored on a driving layup with 2:09 left to tie the game, 74-74. Following a missed three-pointer by Wooster, Davis connected on one of two free throws to put the Pioneers in front, 75-74 at the 1:21 mark.

Fanelly answered with an old-fashioned three-point play to Wooster up by two, 77-75 with just over a minute left on the clock. Marietta turned the ball over on the next possession and the Scots took advantage with a layup from Kenny DeBoer extending the lead to 79-75 with 20 seconds left.

Following a Pioneer timeout, Dollman drained a three-pointer with eight seconds left to cut the lead to one, 79-78. Marietta was forced to foul putting Thorpe on the line.

Senior Tyler Hammond scored all but one of his team-high 17 points in the second half for the Pioneers. Dollman finished with 13 points and sophomore Luis Garcia scored a career-high 12 points, including 11 in the first half.

Junior Brennan McKean added 10 points for Marietta, while Davis finished with a game-best 10 rebounds.

Wooster had a slim 34-32 advantage on the boards. Wooster scored 19 points off of 15 Pioneers turnovers, while Marietta tallied 12 points off of 11 Scot turnovers.

For the game, Marietta shot 27-of-55 (49.1%) from the floor, 9-of-19 (47.4%) from three-point range and 15-of-20 (75.0%) at the line. Wooster was 29-of-63 (46.0%) from the floor, 6-of-17 (35.3%) behind the arc and 17-of-20 (85.0%) at the line.

Marietta is off until next Wednesday (Dec. 4) when the Pioneers travel to Westerville for their Ohio Athletic Conference opener against Otterbein University. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.