HIRAM, Ohio – The College of Wooster did all it could on the final possession where Hiram College's Kevin Beans Jr. stepped inside the three-point arc, spun, and sank the game-winning 20-foot jumper at the buzzer to lift the Terriers to an 83-81 win over the Fighting Scots' men's basketball team on Friday evening at Price Gymnasium.
For Beans Jr., it marked redemption, as Hiram's (7-10, 4-7 North Coast Athletic Conference) wing had a chance to make it a two-possession game with :36.3 remaining. The 79-percent free-throw shooter missed both giving Wooster (13-5, 9-2 NCAC) a chance to tie or take the lead. The Scots elected for the tie, with senior Najee Hardaway driving to the hoop, stopping, getting Hiram to bite on the pump fake, and then laying in a field goal that made it 81 all with about :25.0 remaining.
Hiram's Chance Wells hits the Terriers' 13th three-ball of the game with 1:25 remaining, then came up with a steal. Brodgie Gordon scored in transition following the takeaway, with his layup making it an 81-79 game in favor of Hiram just inside the final minute of play.
Earlier in the second half, Wooster built a 10-point lead, and was in control near the stanza's midpoint. First-year Jamir Billings book-ended an 8-0 run three three-pointers, the second of which put the Scots up 69-59. In between three-balls, sophomore Elijah Meredith poked the ball away from Sherman Cox, and the Scots' forward worked the give-and-go with Billings before making the transition layup. Then, Billings stole the ball from Beans Jr. and put it in a spot where sophomore Carter Warstler would be first to it.
Billings' quick hands were on display all night long, and at one point, he had four deflections that led to Hiram turnovers in a span of 98 seconds. First, Warstler deflected the ball away from a Hiram ball handler. Michael Ewart was able to regain possession only to have the ball pried away by Billings, with a whistle intervening for a jump ball as soon as the Scots' point guard had the ball free. Next, Spencer Willman was pick-pocketed from behind with the ball bouncing right to Meredith, and Doug Sartain had a similar fate on the next possession, with Billings' deflection that time going to Warstler. About a minute later, Billings deflected the ball away from Ewart, chased it down on the sideline, and saved it back in play to Hardaway.
The second half was more of the same when it came to Billings' knack for the ball. At the 12:04 mark, he tipped the ball away from Sartain, then with 9:23 to go, Gordon was the victim of a Billings' steal. Of note, Billings' steal with 9:23 remaining marked his 10th, establishing a new program record, and it is tied for the second-most in a NCAA Div. III game this winter.
Meredith turned in his fifth career 20-point game with a season-best 26 points. He shot 9-of-14 on the night, which included a 4-of-7 mark on three-pointers. Billings followed with 22 points, four rebounds, and five assits. With his 10 steals, Billings moved into fifth-place on the program's single-season leaderboard at 62. Sophomore Nick Everett, who was making his second career start, finished with seven points, seven rebounds, and four blocked shots.
Wooster shot 41.5 percent (27-of-65), was 18-of-21 on free throws, but did get outrebounded 46-33 and outscored at the three-point arc by 12.
Sartain hit 5-of-8 triples to account for the majority of his co-team-leading 17 points. Gordon added 17 points and six assists, while Sartain's nine rebounds marked the game-high.
Hiram shot 45.1 percent (32-of-71) and had 34 bench points to Wooster's five.
Next, Wooster's at Wabash College (13-3, 8-1 NCAC), which took over first-place in the conference standings with the Scots' Friday night loss. Wooster's game at Wabash is slated for 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 30.
Photo by Abbi Tarburton '22