WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's basketball team buried Denison University at the onset, held off the Big Red's second-half comeback bid, and closed out a team that started the day tied atop the North Coast Athletic Conference with authority in Saturday's Fighting Scots' 82-67 win at Timken Gymnasium.
An impressive first half saw Wooster (10-8, 6-3 NCAC) jump out to a 16-4 lead and shoot 67.7 percent (21-of-31) from the floor, yet it was the closing stretch where the Scots' burning desire was on full display. That started with senior Nick Everett, who knocked the ball away from Gates Flynn with Wooster leading 77-67 at the 1:24 mark. Junior Jamir Billings gained possession and found sophomore Isaiah Johnson, who put the exclamation point on the victory with an emphatic fastbreak dunk. Next, Wooster's relentless team pursuit sent Denison's (10-8, 6-3 NCAC) Tyler Miller into desperation mode on the baseline. The Big Red guard tried to keep possession by firing the ball off Scots' junior Ashton Price. Price was able to secure the ball and keep it from going out of bounds.
Aggressive Billings ball pressure forced Flynn into a spinning pass with 41 seconds remaining. Everett's length enabled Wooster's forward to reach in to knock the pass ahead before he gathered it in and finished the transition layup through traffic. Everett's bucket extended Wooster's lead to 82-67.
Wooster's lead was 6-4 when the Scots went on a 10-0 first-half run. Everett's stick-back started the scoring spree at the 16:38 mark, and the senior was quickly a matchup problem for Denison, scoring again with second-chance tallies to make it 10-4. From range, Johnson and sophomore Isaac Roeder canned three-pointers on consecutive possessions, with a steal by sophomore EJ Kapihe sandwiched between the trifectas. Sophomore Vinni Veikalas' second-chance driving layup capped the 12-2 stretch at the 12:05 mark, and that put Wooster up 18-6.
Wooster's lead was 52-32 at halftime, and the Scots led by as many as 22 in the opening stanza. Denison had a near-three-minute scoring drought late in the half, during which the Scots made plays on both ends. A Billings step-back three-pointer fell through, and the junior again connected from range at the 2:06 mark. Sophomore Jaiden Cox-Holloway's triple with 1:30 on the clock ballooned Wooster's lead to 51-29.
Denison was within six at 69-63 with 4:49 remaining. Senior JJ Cline padded the lead back to eight with a floating jumper, then Denison doubled down on Everett, leaving Johnson uncontested for a midrange baseline jumper. Wooster's lead remained at least eight the rest of the way.
Everett's 17 points led all players, and he did not miss a shot from the floor, finishing 7-of-7. Everett's seven rebounds were also the game-high. Billings followed with 16 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. Of note, his assist to Cox-Holloway with 18:35 remaining in the game elevated the junior guard into the program's all-time top-five list. He passed out his 400th career assist on Johnson's dunk in the final 90 seconds.
Wooster shot 56.4 percent (31-of-55) for the game and tied its season-best with 10 turnovers.
Ricky Radtke led Denison with 16 points. Scott Dean followed with 12 points, all of which came on three-pointers, where he was 4-of-6.
Denison shot 41.3 percent (26-of-63) for the game and was outrebounded 33-29.
With the win, Wooster is now part of a four-way tie for second-place in the NCAC with Denison, DePauw University (11-7, 6-3 NCAC), and Wabash College (10-8, 6-3 NCAC). All four teams are a game back of Wittenberg University (13-5, 7-2 NCAC) with seven games remaining.
Next, Wooster plays at Ohio Wesleyan University (7-11, 4-5 NCAC) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 24.