20-2 Second-Half Spurt Pushes Wooster Past Hiram

The College of Wooster was trailing approximately five minutes into the second half and then blitzed Hiram College with a 20-2 run to take control of Saturday's game, as the 19th-ranked Fighting Scots went on to an 88-73 triumph during the North Coast Athletic Conference foes' match-up at Hiram, Ohio.

The opening 25 minutes went back-and-forth with seven ties and 11 lead changes, the second-to-last coming when Hiram (11-8, 4-6 NCAC) made a 3-pointer for a 52-50 advantage. After the Terriers made one free throw on their next possession, Wooster (16-3, 7-3 NCAC) got hot, scoring on eight of its next 11 trips down the court. Matt Fegan keyed the early part of the run with a pair of 3-pointers and fellow senior Justin Hallowell accounted for 10 unanswered points himself to close the 20-2 stretch.

Ahead 70-55 at that point, the Scots led by double figures the rest of the way. Hiram did pull within 77-67 and followed that with three offensive series to get closer, however, Wooster's defense kept the hosts off the scoreboard and Fegan helped end their rally with an old-fashioned three-point play at the 3:29 mark.

The Terriers jumped out to an 11-4 lead at the outset, but the Scots responded with an 11-2 stretch and the margin was within five points for the next several minutes. Then, Wooster scored seven-straight points to gain a 35-26 advantage, but Hiram put together a rally late in the first half before Doug Thorpe scored on a jumper in the final minute to give the visitors a 40-38 lead at the break.

The two key statistics of the game for the Scots were equaling a season high with 11 3-pointers made, coming on 26 attempts for a 42.3 percentage, and committing single-digit turnovers (nine) for the second game in a row.

Hallowell and Fegan each reached the 20-point mark, the former with a season-high 23 and the latter matching a career high with 20, set earlier this season. They each connected on four 3-pointers, Hallowell on nine attempts and Fegan on seven.

Another top performance came from freshman Kenny DeBoer, who tallied 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds, which marked season bests in both categories.

Jamaal Watkins paced Hiram with 20 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.

Next, Wooster travels to Denison University (8-11, 5-5 NCAC), which toppled No. 23 Wabash College 72-62 on Saturday. The lone Denison-Wooster meeting of the regular season is set for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.