Scots Cool Off Polar Bears, 72-57

WOOSTER, Ohio – Sophomore Jamir Billings was on triple-double watch again, and The College of Wooster men's basketball team harvested another victory, utilizing a different blueprint to success on night two of the Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic than in Friday's season lid-lifter. More emphasis on winning one-on-one matchups, then unselfishly finding the open shooter or cutter when Ohio Northern University doubled down, resulted in a 72-57 Fighting Scots' win on Saturday afternoon.

Wooster (2-0) pulled away on a 12-0 run that started with 9:59 left in the game. Billings bookended the scoring spree with field goals. Elsewhere during the stretch, junior JJ Cline found a cutting Carter Warstler, who had a step on William Miller, made the layup, and completed the three-point play. Next, Billings secured a defensive rebound on a CJ Napier misfire, and dished the ball up court to first-year Vinni Veikalas, whose hustle fastbreak layup was successful. Then, Billings canned a three-pointer with 8:23 to go that pushed Wooster's lead to 58-38. The bucket put him on triple-double alert at 10 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, and he added two to each stat category down the stretch.

Junior Nick Everett enabled Wooster to gain separation from Ohio Northern (2-2) late in the first half. Billings fed the forward the ball, and Everett finished at the rim with 4:28 on the clock, upping Wooster's lead to 22-15. Second-chance points from Everett, with a Najee Hardaway assist, plus a old-fashion three-point play bumped the lead to 10. Veikalas dished the ball off to senior Turner Kurt for a layup with 39 seconds left before halftime that upped the lead to 12 before Wooster settled for a 34-24 advantage at the break.

Hardaway's game-high 17 points earned him Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic MVP honors. The senior went 7-for-11 from the floor, which included a 3-for-4 day from beyond the arc. He added five rebounds and passed out three of the Scots' 18 assists. Warstler, a junior, added a steal to finish the two-day tournament with seven, and that earned him Defensive MVP honors for the weekend.

Billings and Kurt joined the major-award winners with all-tournament honors. Billings dropped in 12 points, passed out nine assists, and tracked down eight rebounds in the championship game. Kurt finished the day with eight points and seven rebounds.

Wooster got the better of a similarly-matched team in terms of height with a 40-24 scoring advantage in the paint. Wooster shot 49.2 percent (30-of-61) for the day and turned Ohio Northern's 17 turnovers into 18 points.

Adam Scott and Napier earned all-tournament honors for Ohio Northern. Scott finished as the leading scorer for the Polar Bears at 13 points, while Wooster held Napier to just nine points, half his season average coming into play.

The Polar Bears were a cold 35.8 percent (19-of-53) from the floor, and did not fare any better from range, hitting just 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from beyond the arc. Offensive rebounding kept Ohio Northern in the mix early, as the Polar Bears had 13 boards on that end of the floor.

Wooster's win snapped the program's three-game slide against programs that compete in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

Randolph College (3-2) blew out Mount Aloysius College (2-3) 90-66 in Saturday's Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic consolation game. All-tournament team member Danny Bickey scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, and five of his field goals were triples. Will Hagwood scored 24 points and led Mount Aloysius with eight rebounds.

Next, Wooster hosts seventh-ranked University of Mount Union (4-0) on Wednesday, November 23. Tipoff from Timken Gymnasium is at 6 p.m.