Red-Hot Shooting Performance Paces Wooster Past Denison, 95-72

The College of Wooster knocked down a season-high 14 3-pointers, including four apiece from Alex LaLonde and Spencer Williams, and led wire-to-wire during a 95-72 victory at Denison University Saturday afternoon in the North Coast Athletic Conference foes' first game of 2015.

Wooster (9-2, 3-1 NCAC) opened up a 10-2 lead, including the first four of LaLonde's career-high 22 points, a little more than three minutes into the action to force a Denison (8-4, 2-3 NCAC) timeout.

The Big Red quickly pulled within 12-10, then the Fighting Scots steadily regained control as a LaLonde 3-pointer made it a 10-point game for the first time at 31-21 with about 6:30 to play before halftime.

Brad Woolard followed with a personal 6-0 run for the hosts, only to see Xavier Brown drop in back-to-back 3-pointers and pass to Dan Fanelly for a dunk, adding up to a 41-29 cushion, and it was a similar advantage of 46-36 at the half.

The margin was narrowed to seven a couple of times early in the second half, then LaLonde and Willimas each connected on a 3-pointer to push it to 57-44, and Wooster maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way. The Scots steadily stretched it out to the 23-point win.

Among the impressive statistics Wooster put up were 57.6 percent shooting from the field (38-for-66), which included 14-for-29 from 3-point range (.483), and 24 assists. Those were both season bests, and the eight blocked shots on the defensive end matched a season high.

LaLonde's 22 points were 10 more than the sophomore forward's previous best, and Williams matched him with 22, also marking a career high. They combined to make 8-of-15 3-pointers, and LaLonde added five blocked shots, the most by a Scot since Jake Mays had five on Dec. 28, 2012.

Also noteworthy, Milt Davis celebrated his birthday by equaling a career best with 12 points coming on 5-of-6 field goals (2-of-2 3-pointers), Fanelly distributed a career-high eight assists, and Josh Kipfer chipped in 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

David Meurer led Denison in the scoring column with 16 markers.

Wooster returns to action Wednesday when it welcomes Kenyon College (4-7, 2-2 NCAC) to Timken Gymnasium for an 8 p.m. tip-off.