WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster shot over 60 percent from the field in both halves and all 12 of its players who dressed scored, as the Fighting Scots reached the 100-point milestone for the first time this season while defeating Denison University 100-75 in a North Coast Athletic Conference tilt on Saturday night at Timken Gymnasium.
Wooster (11-1, 5-0 NCAC), which last hit 100 exactly two years ago to the day (Jan. 4, 2012), only had 15 points through 10 minutes of action, then the offense got hot with 3-pointers by Scott Purcell, Evan Pannell, and Purcell again during four possessions, as the Scots extended a 15-13 lead to 24-16 and forced Denison (4-7, 0-4 NCAC) into a timeout.
The Scots' offense was extremely efficient during the final 10 minutes of the first half, accounting for points on 15 of 20 possessions, and they built a 21-point cushion in the process, 50-29 at the break. Fueling that 10-minute stretch was Xavier Brown, who had 11 points, two rebounds, and two assists.
The margin ranged from 15-to-23 points throughout the second half before transition lay-ups by Zach McCorkle and Milt Davis, the latter converting a three-point play, pushed the score to 98-70 at the 1:43 mark. With :18 remaining, Nick Nossaman was fouled and he made both free throws as the scoreboard went triple digits to the delight of the crowd.
Wooster made 60.7 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half (17-for-28) and was even better during the second at 63.0 percent (17-for-27) for an overall rate of .618 (34-for-55).
In addition to a season high in points, the Scots' 20 assists, a career-best five from Kenny DeBoer, marked the most as a team in 2013-14.
Five Wooster players reached double figures, paced by Pannell's season-high 19 points. He also distributed four assists without a turnover.
Brown finished with a 15-point, five-rebound, four-assist line. Purcell tallied 14 points, marking his third double-digit game in the last six. Along with the squad high in assists, DeBoer shared team honors in rebounding as he and Josh Kipfer each tallied 12 points and six boards.
Brad Woolard excelled for the Big Red, tossing in a game-high 24 points, which included 9-of-13 field goal shooting.
Next, the Scots will be at Kenyon College (6-5, 3-1 NCAC) on Wednesday night.