Ian Franks

Ian Franks equaled his career high with 29 points, but it was a last-second assist he made to Nathan Balch that was the difference, as No. 25 ranked College of Wooster survived an upset bid at Kenyon College, prevailing 66-65 during a North Coast Athletic Conference match-up Saturday afternoon in Gambier, Ohio.

Wooster (4-3, 2-0 NCAC) had trailed the entire second half, including 63-57 after Kenyon (3-4, 0-1 NCAC) split a pair of free throws with 1:28 remaining. The Fighting Scots' Bryan Wickliffe kept the next possession alive via an offensive rebound and Franks eventually drained his fifth 3-pointer of the game, cutting the deficit in half at 63-60 with just under 1:00 to go.

The ensuing series saw Wooster come up with a defensive stop and Franks connect on a jump shot, pulling the Scots within 63-62.

With :35 left, Wooster fouled and caught a break when the Lords missed the front end of a one-and-one. Franks then drew a foul and sunk both of his attempts from the charity stripe with :25 on the clock, and the Scots were suddenly ahead (64-63) for the first time since around the 4:00 mark of the first half.

Kenyon answered, though, as Anthony Chun drove for a lay-up with :12 ticks remaining, putting his squad back on top at 65-64.

Then, Franks found Balch for a game-winning lay-up with a mere :02 left.

Prior to the final sequences, the Lords led for all but about a three-minute stretch of the first half. Kenyon built a double-digit cushion less than four minutes into the action (12-2) and went up by as much as 11 (15-4). Midway through the half, Wooster used a 14-2 spurt to go on top 25-21, only to see the Lords respond with 11 unanswered points to go into the break up 32-25.

The Scots whittled a pair of nine-point deficits in the second (34-25 and 44-35) down to one (34-33 and 51-50). Kenyon would gain the momentum back each time until Wooster's final rally that saw the Scots comeback from a seven-point hole (62-55) over the last 4:00.

Statistically, the difference for the teams came at the foul line where the Scots were a perfect 15-of-15 and the Lords were 8-of-13 (.615).

Also of note, Wooster attempted a season-high 29 3-point attempts, but only converted nine for a rate of .310, and shot well under 40 percent from the field overall (.368; 21-for-57). Kenyon finished just under 50 percent from the floor (.479; 23-for-48), including 11-of-24 3-point shooting (.458).

Franks, who also scored 29 points against Denison University Feb. 11, 2009, made a career-high five 3-pointers (5-for-7) and was 9-for-14 from the field. He also led the team with three assists.

Next in the scoring column were Balch and Wickliffe with nine points apiece, and the latter registered a squad-leading eight rebounds as well.

J.T. Knight paced the Lords with 16 points, including 4-of-8 3-pointers.

The Scots will be off for final exams next week and return to action at No. 9 Randolph-Macon College's Briggs Elliott December Classic on Dec. 13-14.