Dan Fanelly

WOOSTER, Ohio – An early burst in the second half gave The College of Wooster a lead that it did not relinquish, but the 14th-ranked Fighting Scots had to grind out the eventual 66-58 victory over the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on the opening night of the 52nd annual E.M. "Mose" Hole/ Wooster Kiwanis Classic at Timken Gymnasium Monday.

The win sets up a rare match-up between two traditional NCAA Div. III powers in the Great Lakes Region – Wooster (7-2) and Hope College (6-3) – in Tuesday night's championship game. Hope was a 77-58 winner against Spalding University earlier Monday. The Fighting Scots and Flying Dutchmen, at or near the top of the regional rankings on a seemingly annual basis, have not played since the 1997 NCAA Div. III Tournament.

For the opening 20 minutes of Wooster's game, it appeared they might miss each other again. Wis.-La Crosse (4-6) took a 26-24 lead into intermission, with the Scots firing an uncharacteristic 31.0 percent from the field, including 2-of-12 3-point shooting.

Wooster came out of the locker room with a different energy level, and it paid dividends. Dan Fanelly converted an old-fashioned three-point play eight seconds into the second half to give the Scots the lead, put back his own miss during their next offensive trip, and then blocked a shot on the defensive end.

Spencer Williams added six points during what amounted to a 13-5 run, putting Wooster ahead 37-29 about five minutes into the half.

The Scots stretched their advantage to as much as 13 (44-31), however, the Eagles did not go away. Fueled by the play of Kenny Finco, they pulled within 50-48 as the sophomore came off the bench to account for 10 points of a 12-2 stretch.

On the possession after Wis.-La Crosse made it a two-point game, Milt Davis helped secure an offensive rebound and Evan Pannell found a wide open Ari Stern, who netted a 3-pointer to make it 53-48 with 5:03 remaining.

Neither team scored again for nearly three minutes, then they exchanged two quick buckets. First, a Xavier Brown fast-break lay-up, keyed by a Williams' steal, followed by another Finco conversion.

With the clock ticking under two minutes, Pannell got into position for a lay-up off a missed shot, and after a Wooster defensive stop, he connected on a 3-pointer from the right side for a 60-50 cushion that just about clinched the outcome.

The biggest difference in the game was second-chance points, as the Scots outscored the Eagles 16-4 in that category.

Brown led all scorers with 18 points, followed closely by Williams's 16. The latter also distributed a game-high five assists, plus registered three steals.

Also in double figures for Wooster were Fanelly and Pannell with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Skylar Cameron paced Wis.-La Crosse with 16 points, while Finco wound up with 14, more than double his scoring average.

Leading Hope's wire-to-wire win over Spalding (5-4) was Ben Gardner with 15 points and Alex Eidson, who had a balanced line of 10 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Spalding and Wis.-La Crosse will play the consolation game of the tournament Tuesday at 5 p.m., followed by the Scots and Flying Dutchmen tipping off around 7 p.m.