Xavier Brown

The College of Wooster led for all but two possessions of the second half and eventually pulled away from a pesky Oberlin College squad to win the 2012-13 North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball opener 74-66 at Oberlin, Ohio, Sunday night after Thanksgiving.

A six-minute scoreless drought for Wooster (3-1, 1-0 NCAC) during the opening half helped allow Oberlin (1-3, 0-1 NCAC) to stay close, as it was 31-30 at the break.

The Yeomen scored on the initial possession of the second, but shortly thereafter, the Fighting Scots strung together a 9-1 run with six of the points supplied by Jake Mays, who went on to record his second career double-double, both coming in the last two games, for a 40-33 advantage.

From there, Oberlin made it a one-possession game on three occasions, including at 56-53 with just under 6:00 remaining. At that point, Josh Claytor came up with a couple of key plays, a steal on the defensive end, followed by two free throws, and then a lay-up to push Wooster's lead up to seven (60-53).

The Scots were never truly threatened again, thanks to strong free throw shooting that saw them knock down 12-of-14 over the final 2:16.

Statistically, one of the keys for Wooster was 9-of-17 3-point shooting (.529) as part of an overall 48.1 percent night from the field (25-for-52). The Scots also outrebounded their hosts 39-27, however, the Yeomen were able to stay close by limiting the number of possessions and shooting 39.0 percent (23-of-59), including 9-of-23 from outside the arc (.391).

For the Scots, Xavier Brown hit 4-of-5 3-balls for 24 points, which equaled a career high for the sophomore guard, while Mays's second double-double consisted of 10 points and 12 rebounds, and he also added three blocked shots.

Doug Thorpe contributed 12 points and Evan Pannell 10 to the winning effort.

Oberlin was paced by Geoff Simpson's 19 markers in the scorebook.

Wooster will be at Ohio Northern University (4-1) on Wednesday night.