Scots Pull Away From Big Red, 75-60

GRANVILLE, Ohio – A plethora of contributions, including four College of Wooster men's basketball players in double figures in the scoring column, plus a third straight double-digit assist game by first-year Jamir Billings, led the Fighting Scots past Denison University 75-60 on Wednesday evening at Livingston Gymnasium.

Wooster (11-4, 7-1 North Coast Athletic Conference), which maintained pace with Wabash College (12-3, 7-1 NCAC) atop the conference standings, handed Denison (6-7, 5-2 NCAC) its second conference loss of the season. The Scots' 10-0 run that started with 15:19 to go was a key component of the midweek victory. Senior Brandon Styers dished the ball off to junior Turner Kurt at the onset, then the Scots' forward ended the Big Red's bid at an answer-back with a steal. Denison's miscues handcuffed the Big Red during the 4:40 scoring drought, as at one point three straight turnovers went in the box score. Billings had a steal on one of them, then senior Najee Hardaway put his stamp on the victory with a fast-break dunk. Wooster's collective team defense caused the next turnover, with that coming courtesy of a shot clock violation.

Billings passed out assist 10 of the evening to Styers, who capped the run with a three-pointer at the 11:43 mark. Wooster led 56-48 at that point. The Scots' highlight-finding point guard had an 11th assist in the cards with 6:45 remaining. Sophomore Elijah Meredith was the recipient of that helper, and he upped Wooster's lead to 62-56 in the process.

Kurt's hook shot with 3:20 remaining in the first half was the go-ahead bucket, and the first of seven straight points scored by the Scots' big. On the next possession, Kurt got the spinning floater off the dribble to go down, then he was dialed in from range, with the three-ball upping Wooster's lead to 34-29 at the 2:13 mark. Sophomore Nick Everett rolled to the basket and finished a feed from Billings to make it a 40-36 game in Wooster's favor at halftime.

Wooster, which shot a season-high 52.5 percent (32-of-61) from the floor, had a game-high 19 points from Meredith, who was followed in the scoring column by Hardaway (16), Kurt (14), and Styers (13). Kurt's nine rebound were the high mark from both sides on the night, as were Billings' 11 assists. Billings, who entered the day 10th and 22nd in NCAA Div. III in steals and assists per game, respectively, added five steals in Wednesday's win.

The Scots outrebounded the Big Red 34-28 and were 6-of-8 at the charity stripe.

Tyler Miller had team-leading totals in points (10) and rebounds (6), but he needed 12 field-goal attempts to get there.

Denison shot just 39.6 percent (21-of-53) for the game, 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from three-point range, and 11-of-12 at the line.

Next, Wooster is at DePauw University (5-8, 2-5 NCAC) for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday, January 22.