Scott Purcell

Scott Purcell secured two offensive rebounds, then knocked down a 3-pointer in the same possession to put The College of Wooster ahead 70-68 with about 1:45 remaining and the No. 9 ranked Fighting Scots maintained a lead the rest of the way to defeat Hiram College 76-71 in a North Coast Athletic Conference tilt Wednesday night at Hiram, Ohio.

The victory, plus losses for both No. 14 ranked Ohio Wesleyan University and No. 15 Wittenberg University, gives Wooster (19-3, 13-2 NCAC) a two-game lead in the NCAC standings with three regular season games remaining.

While Xavier Brown scored a game-high 28 points, it was Purcell who came up with the biggest sequence of the game. The Fighting Scots trailed by one on five occasions during the second half, but they answered on the ensuing offensive series four of those times, including after upstart Hiram (5-17, 3-12 NCAC) went up 68-67. Wooster's leading scorer, Doug Thorpe, misfired on a couple of 3-point attempts, but Purcell was there to keep the possession alive both times and then the senior forward hit his third 3-pointer of the night.

Next, the Terriers missed an outside shot and Purcell collected another rebound, which was followed by Brown making it a two-possession game as his jumper pushed the score to 72-68 with under a minute on the clock.

The Scots had the opportunity to put the game away, but a bit later, a missed free throw and an offensive rebound for Hiram gave the hosts a chance at tying the game as it was 74-71 with 25.0 left. The Terriers, though, never got a shot off, with Kenny DeBoer coming up with a steal on the inside, and Wooster eventually closed it out when Purcell made 2-of-2 free throws at the 16.8 mark.

The Scots constructed a 13-point lead fairly early (23-10) and were up 41-33 at halftime, behind Brown's 20-point first half.

Hiram, on three Kyle Deckerd 3-pointers, cut the margin to 43-42 within the opening two minutes of the second half, and neither team led by more than five until Wooster was ahead by six (74-68) briefly in the final minute.

The biggest statistical difference in the game was turnovers, as the Scots committed just seven while helping induce the Terriers into 14.

Brown was just two points shy of his third career 30-point game. The 28 came on 12-of-19 field goals (3-of-7 3-pointers) and one free throw, while joining him in double figures were Thorpe and Purcell with 17 and 11 points, respectively.

Purcell's line also included a team-high seven rebounds and three assists without a turnover, while DeBoer distributed a game-high four assists and Evan Pannell produced three steals.

Hiram's Aaron Stefanov, the league's leading scorer, had a strong night with 27 points and teammate Chriz Zurowski tallied a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Wooster can clinch a share of the 2013-14 NCAC championship on Saturday night when it hosts archrival Wittenberg (17-5, 11-4 NCAC) at 7:30 p.m.