Scots Unable to Hang On to Second-Half Lead Versus No. 7 Pointers

The College of Wooster led No. 7 ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville early in the second half, but the Pioneers would later put together a 19-5 stretch and eventually secure a 76-67 victory during the opening game of Hanover College's John R. Collier Tournament Saturday evening.

Wooster (1-3) carried over the momentum of a late run in the first half and scored the first nine points of the second on two 3-pointers by Justin Hallowell (Worthington, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) and another from Dustin Geitgey (West Salem, Ohio / Northwestern) to take a 42-38 lead.

A few minutes later, the game was tied 46-46 when Wis.-Platteville began the aforementioned run. The Pointers steadily pulled out to a 14-point cushion with 4:05 remaining (65-51), behind the play of Mike Shaw and Jeff Skemp, who combined for 13 points of their team's 19 during that stretch.

The Fighting Scots made things interesting late, as they connected on a series of three 3-pointers again and then an Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central) lay-up lowered the deficit to 71-65 at the :49 mark. Wis.-Platteville, though, would sink 5-of-6 free throws to clinch the game.

The Pointers had started on fire, hitting five 3-pointers in the opening six-plus minutes to jump out to a 19-8 advantage. Wooster would battle back within three (23-20), only to see Wis.-Platteville push its lead back to double-digits, including as much as 36-22. The game of runs continued, as the Scots closed the first half strong with a 16-3 rally, capped by a runner at the buzzer by Geitgey, for a 38-33 score.

Statistically for the game, the Pointers shot slightly better from the field (53.2 percent to 46.6 percent) and got to the free throw line more frequently, converting on 17-of-24 opportunities (.708), compared to Wooster's 4-of-7 (.571). The rest of the numbers were even.

Hallowell paced the Scots in the scoring column with 17 points, including 5-of-9 3-pointers, and fellow newcomer Nathan Balch (Westerville, Ohio / Olentangy) also provided a lift with 15 points and five assists. Franks finished in double figures for the fourth time in as many contests, tallying 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

For Wis.-Platteville, Shaw had 24 points, while Curt Hanson finished with 19 points and nine assists and the 6-10 Skemp added 18 points and three blocked shots.

Wooster will play the loser of Hanover and Indiana University Southeast in the consolation game Sunday afternoon.