Fifth-Ranked Wooster Tripped Up in Indiana Again, This Time by Hanover

The College of Wooster's trips to the Hoosier State have not gone well in recent years and that trend continued on Saturday afternoon, as the Fighting Scots, ranked No. 5 in the first D3hoops.com regular season top-25 poll, fell at Hanover College 70-57 in a match-up of preseason conference favorites at Collier Arena, in Hanover, Ind.

Wooster (3-1), now 1-6 in its last seven games played in the state of Indiana covering a four-season stretch, found itself in an early nine-point deficit of 14-5 when Hanover (2-2) produced three three-point plays on consecutive possessions.

The Panthers later extended their advantage to 22-9, then the Scots outplayed them the second 10 minutes of the half, pulling within 29-27 at one point. Kyle James gave the hosts a momentum boost with a 3-pointer right before the break that made it 32-27.

A pair of Alex LaLonde 3-pointers helped Wooster take the lead (35-34) early in the second half, and it was tied at 41 shortly thereafter.

Next came the critical stretch, as the Scots' offense was out of sync for an extended time, which allowed Hanover a 14-2 run. During about 10 minutes of game time, Wooster netted just 1-of-12 field-goal attempts with five turnovers.

A Spencer Williams lay-up ended the drought and made it a 10-point spread (55-45) with 4:42 to play, however, the Scots got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

Wooster's inefficient offense was the difference in the loss, as it shot under 40 percent from the field (.393; 24-for-61) and turned the ball over 17 times, compared to just eight for the Panthers.

Williams paced the Scots with 13 points.

Hanover's V.J. Billups led all scorers plus he had eight rebounds.

Next, Wooster opens the North Coast Athletic Conference season with a challenging game against undefeated and No. 21 Ohio Wesleyan University (5-0), as the Battling Bishops will be at Timken Gymnasium Wednesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip.