WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's basketball team's 13-year run of winning on night one of the program's annual Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic was snapped on Friday evening, as Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Indiana) held off the Fighting Scots for an 82-80 win at Timken Gymnasium.
Wooster (1-2) needed a miracle after Rose-Hulman's (2-0) Kobe Stoudemire's free throws extended the Fightin' Engineers lead to 82-77 with exactly four seconds on the clock. Rose-Hulman retained possession following the free throws due to a flagrant one foul, but sophomore Isaiah Johnson outworked the player he was guarding and stole the inbounds pass, giving Wooster the ball in the front court. Senior JJ Cline found junior Ashton Price for a three-pointer that pulled Wooster within 82-80 with seven tenths of a second on the clock. After a foul with two tenths of a second remaining, Wooster would have had to tip in a full-court three-pointer to win.
Wooster was within 78-75 with 1:03 remaining when sophomore EJ Kapihe drove to the basket for a layup, but the Scots did not hit from range with about 27 seconds remaining. That forced Wooster into foul mode and Rocco Richie was locked in at the line.
The key moment in the game came with 5:59 remaining. A loose ball foul on a rebound was initially called on Rose-Hulman's Simon Blair, and it was reviewed and reversed to a flagrant one foul on Wooster senior Nick Everett. Wooster, which was down two at the time, found itself behind 70-64 after the possession, as Blair split the free throws and Stoudemire buried one of Rose-Hulman's nine second-half three-pointers.
Wooster, which found itself down 35-30 at halftime, played its best stretch at the second period's onset. Kapihe was behind the effort, making two layups to pull Wooster within 35-34, and a steal by the Scots' forward was sandwiched between the buckets. Wooster took a lead at 37-35 on a Price triple at the 18:41 mark, and Price's fast-break layup following a Cline rebound upped the lead to four at the 17:36 mark. A triple from junior Jamir Billings made it 48-40 at 14:31, which marked Wooster's biggest lead of the night.
Price's 27 points were a collegiate-high. He was 10-for-18 from the floor and 5-for-9 from range. Billings added 11 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, and four steals. Kapihe's eight rebounds led the team, while Cline's 12 points were two off his career-best.
Wooster shot 48.2 percent (27-for-56) and won the rebounding battle 37-29, but was ultimately outscored by 12 points beyond the arc.
Miles McGowan's 17 points led four Fightin' Engineers in double figures. Richie's four three-pointers helped the guard to 15 points. Bradley Harden had six rebounds to lead Rose-Hulman in that department.
Rose-Hulman shot 29-for-64 (45.3 percent) for the game and went 14-for-28 on three-pointers.
Wooster last lost on the opening night of the Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic in 2008.
In Friday's first game, eighth-ranked Hampden-Sydney College (Virginia) (3-0) beat Widener University (Pennsylvania) (3-1) 72-63. Hampden-Sydney's Davidson Hubbard led four Tigers in double figures with 16 points, while Ryan Clements added 13 points and seven rebounds. Dominic Dunn paced Widener with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Matt Dulerio added 13. Hampden-Sydney shot 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the floor, was 14-of-16 (87.5 percent) at the line and dominated Widener on the glass 48-29. Widener shot 34.9 percent (22-of-63) and went just 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) from range.
Saturday's schedule starts with Wooster and Widener playing in the consolation game at 2:15, with Hampden-Sydney and Rose-Hulman to follow at 4:30 p.m. The donation of two boxed or canned food items for People to People Ministries in Wooster is good for half-price admission.