No. 9 Scots Move to 3-0 After First Road Win of Season

The College of Wooster connected on 11-of-19 3-pointers, paving the way for an 83-74 victory at Wilmington College in non-league men's basketball action Sunday evening. It was the No. 9 ranked Fighting Scots' initial road game of the season and the first of a three-game road swing.

Wooster (3-0) never trailed. After a nearly-even opening 10 minutes, the Scots constructed a double-digit cushion via a 16-4 stretch that transformed a 21-20 game into a 37-24 advantage. The run included points from seven players – Kenny DeBoer, Scott Purcell, Josh Claytor, Justin Warnes, Doug Thorpe, Xavier Brown, and Justin Hallowell.

A Brown bucket right before the halftime buzzer gave Wooster a 41-31 lead.

The Scots continued to stay ahead by double figures the first six-plus minutes of the second half, including by as much as 16 (53-37), but then had to withstand a rally by Wilmington (1-4).

The Quakers would trim a 56-46 deficit to 59-55 at the 8:32 mark, only to see Hallowell hit 3-pointers on two of Wooster's next three possessions. The second made it a three-possession game of 65-57, and it remained that way for the final seven minutes as the Scots secured the nine-point win.

Behind Matt Fegan and Hallowell, Wooster shot 57.9 percent from 3-point range and the team was just under 50 percent from the field for the game (.479; 23-for-48). Wilmington finished with an almost identical rate from the field (.475; 29-for-61), but was just 7-of-25 on 3-pointers (.280).

Fegan canned 4-of-5 3-pointers as part of a 13-point night and Hallowell made 5-of-11 to account for all 15 of his points, while Brown wound up as the Scots' leading scorer with 20 points. The freshman point guard has been consistent with 18, 22, and 20 points his first three games, and on Sunday, he produced season highs in assists (6) and steals (3).

Wooster also enjoyed a 36-29 rebounding edge, with Warnes leading the way individually with nine. He contributed nine points as well, which included 7-of-8 free throws. As a team, the Scots spent significant time at the charity stripe, dropping in 26-of-33 attempts (.788).

Next, Wooster begins its chase for the 2011-12 North Coast Athletic Conference championship by visiting Kenyon College (2-2, 0-0 NCAC) on Wednesday at 8 p.m.