Tournament MVP Justin Hallowell surveys the defense during Tuesday night's action.

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster outscored Mt. Union College 19-4 over the final five minutes to turn what had been a close game into an 80-61 victory, as the Fighting Scots won the championship game of their 46th annual E.M. "Mose" Hole/Kiwanis Classic Tuesday night at Timken Gym. Earlier, Kean University prevailed 76-57 over Thiel College in the consolation.

Wooster (7-4) used an early burst, keyed by Justin Hallowell (Worthington, Ohio / Thomas Worthington), to take double-digit leads of 25-14 and 28-16. Hallowell scored 13 of the Scots' first 23 points, including three 3-pointers. After it got to 28-16 at the midway point of the half, Wooster went cold from the field, not scoring for nearly five full minutes as Mt. Union (9-2) pulled within two (28-26).

Then, Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) sparked the Scots with back-to-back 3-pointers in the transition game, both assisted by Dustin Geitgey (West Salem, Ohio / Northwestern), and Fegan also tipped-in a miss at the halftime buzzer to give Wooster a 40-36 advantage.

The Purple Raiders scored the first two buckets of the second half to tie the game for the fifth time, but the Scots were able to prevent them from ever gaining the lead that stanza. Wooster stayed ahead by between one and eight points from the 17:03 mark until there was five minutes remaining.

Leading 61-57 at that point, Hallowell knocked in a key 3-pointer for the Scots, and following a defensive stop, Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) earned a trip to the free throw line where he canned both for a nine-point cushion (66-57) with 4:04 to go. Mt. Union countered with 1-of-2 free throws, only to see Geitgey feed Drew Sawyer (Dayton, Ohio / Kettering Fairmont) for a lay-up on the other end.

The Purple Raiders again split a pair at the foul line to make it a nine-point game again (68-59). On the ensuing possession, Hallowell collected a loose ball out front and then hit a streaking Franks, who dunked it home for a 70-59 cushion. The next time Wooster had the ball, it was Franks making a nice assist to Sawyer for a lay-in, extending the lead to 13 (72-59) with 2:21 remaining.

The remainder of the game turned into a Franks' free throw shooting exhibition. He made a series of eight from the charity stripe over the final 1:42, which gave him a final total of 13-of-13 for the game. That was just one short of Erich Riebe's 14-of-14 performance at the free throw line during a 74-68 victory over arch-rival Wittenberg University Jan. 19, 1991.

Franks, who ended up with a game-high 21 points, was also voted defensive MVP for the tourney, as he helped limit Mt. Union's top offensive threat, Chris Switzer, to six points – 13 below his season average coming in (19.5 ppg).

Tournament MVP honors went to Hallowell, who scored 19 points in the title game, highlighted by 5-of-8 3-point shooting. He also contributed four assists.

Other top scoring performances for the Scots on Tuesday included Fegan's 11 points and 10 apiece from Nathan Balch (Westerville, Ohio / Olentangy) and Sawyer, who also led the team to a +15 rebounding edge (43-28) with a season-high nine boards. Noteworthy, Marty Bidwell (Middletown, Ohio / Bishop Fenwick) issued a game-high five assists and Geitgey tallied a career-high seven rebounds and four assists without a turnover.

Point guard Sam King led the Purple Raiders with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

In the consolation game, Kean led for all but the opening three minutes as the Cougars constructed a 40-31 halftime lead. Thiel never got any closer than eight during the second half.

Jonathan Jones paced three double-digit scorers for Kean with 19 points on 8-of-10 field goals, while Nick Sefscik hit five 3-pointers as part of a 19-point effort in the setback.

Wooster will not take to the floor again until next Wednesday, Jan. 7, when it travels to league foe Kenyon College (6-4, 1-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) at 7:30 p.m.