Mitch Balser

Josh Kipfer

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster started the new year with some lineup changes, and after falling behind early, they paid off in the form of an 83-67 North Coast Athletic Conference victory over Denison University during a rare Sunday matinee at Timken Gymnasium.

With junior wing Milt Davis and sophomore post Alex Baptiste making their first career starts and freshman guard Simon Texidor seeing his most significant action to date, Wooster (7-4, 3-1 NCAC) moved into a three-way tie for first in the conference standings with the win.

The Fighting Scots did get off to a bit of a slow start, as Denison (6-5, 2-3 NCAC) built a couple of early six-point leads of 11-5 and 13-7.

Shortly after, Wooster gained its first lead via a 6-0 run, thanks to the combination of Mitch Balser and Josh Kipfer. First, Balser hit a driving lay-up, then Kipfer made a steal and took it the other way for a transition bucket, and the latter added another lay-in, assisted by Balser, to put the Scots ahead 16-15.

It remained a one-possession game for several minutes before Wooster gained some separation late in the half. A 7-0 stretch featuring a 3-pointer from Texidor upped the home team's advantage to eight (31-23), and the Scots later took a 40-30 edge into intermission.

Wooster maintained a two-possession lead throughout the second half, but did not put the game away until late. It appeared that the Scots may blow it open when they opened up a 15-point cushion (53-38), however, the Big Red kept things interesting, eventually pulling within 59-52 at the 9:16 mark.

Coming out of a timeout, Ari Stern answered for Wooster with a 3-pointer, and Denison never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

With the score 74-64 and less than three minutes remaining, Denison had four different looks at the basket before the Scots finally secured the defensive rebound, then they proceeded to account for the next nine points to seal the outcome.

As a team, Wooster shot nearly 50 percent from the field (.481; 26-for-54), including 8-of-20 3-pointers, and held the Big Red to under 40 percent (.371; 23-for-62). The Scots' defense was very active overall with eight steals and seven blocked shots.

Spencer Williams bounced back from an uncharacteristic outing in the last game to lead all scorers with 18 points, while Josh Kipfer sparked Wooster with 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and one steal.

Balser accounted for all 10 of his points and all three of his assists during the first half, while Alex LaLonde was an all-around force with seven points, three assists, two blocked shots, and two steals.

Jett Speelman had 17 points for Denison, however, he attempted 18 field goals (5-for-18), and Matthew Bauer contributed a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Scots continue NCAC play with a trip to Kenyon College (4-7, 1-3 NCAC) on Wednesday night.