WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's basketball team aced the first day of classes for the spring semester with a 56-point win over Hiram College, and the Fighting Scots' 104-48 victory over the Terriers at Timken Gymnasium marked the storied program's largest margin of victory since the opening game of the 2006-07 season.
Aggressiveness in the passing lanes, Wooster's (7-8, 3-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) relentless ball pressure, and length fueled a sustained opening run that saw the Scots race out to a 23-2 lead in the game's first 6:55. Eight Wooster steals kept the run rolling, as Hiram (2-13, 0-6 NCAC) logged a stretch of 10 turnovers in 11 possessions. Deflection steals by junior Ashton Price and senior JJ Cline sparked the Scots, and sophomore Jaiden Cox-Holloway joined the steal fest with a pair following his first bucket of the night. Junior Jamir Billings' aggressiveness in the passing lane earned the guard a fast-break layup following his first of a game-high four steals, three of which came in the opening 4:53. Senior Nick Everett accounted for the final steal in the 23-2 run.
Wooster kept pouring it on, growing the lead to 33-6 when Billings' floater from the middle of the key swished through at the 7:05 mark. The Scots' humongous cushion ultimately halted Billings' triple-double bid, with the junior playing just 4:41 in the second half and shy of 20 minutes for the game. Nonetheless, he had a complete performance across the stat sheet with 13 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and four steals.
Wooster's non-starters, who played over 70 percent of the minutes in the second half, were just as effective and efficient. The Scots' bench dropped 41 points after halftime as part of a 60-point showing. Of note, Wooster's bench's 61.5 (16-of-26) second-half field-goal percentage was better than the team's 57.7 percent (41-of-71) mark for the game. Sophomore Vinni Veikalas scored nine of the 41 bench points, while first-year Nick Prince was a perfect 2-of-2 from the floor, 2-of-2 at the line, and had two assists in his first extended stretch of varsity action.
Price's 19 points led all scorers. The junior went 8-of-11 from the floor. Billings' 13 points were the second-most by the Scots, while sophomore Isaiah Johnson hit double-digits for the second time at 11 points. Cox-Holloway had high honors in rebounding with eight, while Johnson followed Billings with three steals.
Hiram had no answer for Wooster in the paint, where the Scots scored 60 points. Wooster led 23-8 in points off turnovers, 13-0 in fast-break points, and 22-13 in second-chance points.
Wooster limited Trent Jakacki's impact. The Terriers' leading scorer had just six points, nearly 19 below his 24.8 per-game average entering play. Ivan Yang played well offensively for Hiram with 10 points and four offensive rebounds. He shot 5-of-7 for the game. The rest of the Terriers were 12-of-51. As a team, Hiram was just 3-of-25 on three-pointers.
Wooster's last 50-point win was a 101-46 rout of Kenyon College on Jan. 18, 2017. The last game with a larger margin of victory was Wooster's 57-point 128-71 win over Cabrini University that kicked off the Scots' run to the 2007 national semifinals.
Next, NCAA Div. III's two winningest teams meet up for the 127th time at 6 p.m. at Timken Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 13. Wittenberg University enters Saturday's matchup at 11-4, 5-1 NCAC.