SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – A wire-to-wire victory is a rarity when The College of Wooster and Wittenberg University – NCAA Div. III's two winningest all-time teams – tangle in men's basketball, but that is exactly what happened on Saturday evening when the Fighting Scots dispatched their archnemesis 77-57 at Pam Evans Smith Arena.
With its win, Wooster (17-8, 13-5 North Coast Athletic Conference) secured the second seed for next week's conference tournament and will host Allegheny College (8-13, 6-9 NCAC) on Tuesday, February 22. The time for Tuesday's game is still being finalized. Wittenberg (13-11, 11-6 NCAC) fell to the fourth seed.
Senior Brandon Styers popped out and canned an open triple on the game's opening possession to set the tone for the night, and the biology major was on point from midrange, giving Wooster an early 5-0 lead. A few minutes later, Wooster kept hitting the offensive glass again and again – four times in a row to be precise – before sophomore Elijah Meredith's triple made it a 14-10 game at the 13:21 mark. Sophomore Carter Warstler, who had the assist on Meredith's fifth-chance bucket, wrestled two of the offensive boards away from Wittenberg, while the other two on the possession came from Wooster's scrappiness with the ball last touching a Tiger before hitting out of bounds.
Wooster's 12-0 run late in the first half enabled the Scots to gain separation from the Tigers. First-year Jamir Billings' driving layup started the stretch, and the Scots were aided with three technical foul free throws, which were knocked down by senior Najee Hardaway. Everything was seemingly clicking for the Scots during the stretch, as sophomore Nick Everett banked in a three-pointer and Meredith cleaned up his own miss, with his stick-back upping Wooster's lead to 40-26 at the 1:52 mark. The Scots carried a 40-28 lead into halftime.
Wooster's 9-1 second-half run essentially iced the game, as the Scots' lead did not dip below 14 the rest of the night. Hardaway's driving layup at 6:19 bumped Wooster's lead to 64-48. Prior to that, Warstler knocked down a three-pointer off a pass from senior Khaylen Mahdi, junior Turner Kurt cut to the basketball and finished Warstler's lead pass, and Billings turned a steal into a fast-break layup.
As the second half was winding down, senior JG Gillard drained a three-pointer to bookend the wire-to-wire triumph with trifectas. On that triple, Wooster had just two seconds to navigate an inbounds play, but that was no problem for Gillard, who was fresh off the bench when he connected.
Billings' all-around stardom fueled the 20-point win. Wooster's point guard led all players with 17 points, and he did not miss a shot on the night, finishing 6-of-6 from the floor and 4-of-4 at the charity stripe. Billings' seven rebounds led Wooster as did his four assists and four steals. Three other Scots reached double figures in scoring in Kurt (11), Meredith (11), and Styers (10). Hardaway went toe-to-toe with Billings for high honors in rebounds (7) and assists (4).
Wooster scorched Wittenberg in the shooting department, hitting 57.7 percent (30-of-52) of its field goals, with the percentage marking a new top mark for the year. The Scots bullied the Tigers on the glass, running away with the rebounding edge 36-14.
Ridge Young's 14 points led the Tigers.
Wittenberg shot 36.0 percent (18-of-50) for the game, was 8-of-24 on three-pointers, and went 13-of-16 at the line.
Wooster now has a four-game lead in the all-time rivalry 64-60. The Scots have won three straight games over the Tigers, and last four winning streaks in the series of at least three games have all been by Wooster. Of note, Wooster has won by at least 20 in each of the last two games in the rivalry played at Pam Evans Smith Arena.