Nathan Balch

The College of Wooster used a 15-5 spurt at the onset of the second half to break away from a 35-35 halftime tie and key its 74-64 North Coast Athletic Conference road victory over Kenyon College Wednesday night in Gambier, Ohio.

After a back-and-forth first half that saw eight ties and four lead changes, Wooster (8-4, 3-0 NCAC) scored five points over its first two possessions of the second, including a 3-pointer by Nathan Balch (Westerville, Ohio / Olentangy).

Kenyon (7-5, 1-2 NCAC), which was 4-0 at its Tomsich Arena entering Wednesday's action, pulled back within two (40-38), only to see the Fighting Scots account for 10 of the game's next 12 points. The key stretch featured five different Wooster players scoring two points apiece.

Over the final 13 minutes, the closest the Lords narrowed the margin was seven points at 54-47, 56-49, 58-51, and 60-53, but the Scots had an answer each time, and a 3-pointer by Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) – his only attempt from outside all night – gave the visitors a 12-point cushion around the six-minute mark.

Wooster was ahead by double digits for all but three possessions the rest of the way.

Overall, the teams were pretty evenly matched. The rebounding battle was an even 32-32 and the Scots made just one more 3-pointer (6-for-15) than the Lords (5-for-15). Wooster did shoot better overall from the field, finishing just shy of 50 percent (27-for-55) to Kenyon's rate of .429 (24-for-56), and at the foul line as the Scots had their second consecutive strong performance there, hitting 14-of-17 (.824). The Lords were 11-of-18 (.611).

Individually, Balch led all players in scoring with 16 points and he also corralled a season-high nine boards, marking five more than his previous best in a Wooster uniform. Franks' stat line included 14 points, six caroms, and a team-high five assists without a turnover, while Justin Hallowell (Worthington, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) put 13 in the scoring column.

Four Kenyon players reached double figures, led by Dave Knapke's 15 points.

Wooster faces another challenging road game on Saturday afternoon when it meets Wabash College (6-5, 1-2 NCAC) at 2 p.m.