Scots’ 12-Game Win Streak Halted by Bishops; Brown Reaches 1,500 Career Points

Xavier Brown became the eighth player in the tradition-rich College of Wooster men's basketball program to score 1,500 career points on Wednesday night, but the 10th-ranked Fighting Scots' 12-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of North Coast Athletic Conference rival Ohio Wesleyan University, 92-85, inside Branch Rickey Arena at Delaware, Ohio.

Wooster (15-3, 9-2 NCAC) and Ohio Wesleyan (14-4, 9-2 NCAC) are now tied for first-place in the conference standings, with the Battling Bishops holding the tiebreaker advantage as they also edged the Scots earlier this season by a similar score of 92-89.

The second meeting played out closely to the first. Ohio Wesleyan built a substantial lead during the second half, as much as 15 points this time, then held off an impressive comeback bid that saw Wooster get as close as five with about :30 to play.

After the Bishops closed the first half on a 7-2 run to take a 46-42 advantage, they continued to hold the momentum by outscoring the Scots 14-3 to open the second, which resulted in a 60-45 cushion. During that overall stretch of 21-5, Claude Gray scored 12 of his game-high 29 points.

Right after it was 60-45, Wooster had a mini 7-2 run that included a Jalen Goodwin dunk and 3-pointer, to quickly pull within 10 (62-52), and the Scots tried to chip away some more, only to see Ohio Wesleyan answer each time.

At the 11:01 mark, Ari Stern knocked down the second of his 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make it a 68-60 margin, but Wooster got no closer until late.

Spencer Williams turned an Alex LaLonde steal into a lay-up to pull the Scots within 79-72 with 2:49 on the clock, and a three-point play possibility. The ensuing free throw was off target, though, and the Bishops accounted for the next three points while Wooster came up empty on an offensive possession.

The Scots had one final push when Dan Fanelly stole an in-bounds pass and Pannell laid the ball in, which put the deficit at 88-83, but Ohio Wesleyan salted the game away at the free throw line.

One of the differences was free throw percentage, as the Bishops were nearly perfect at 92.6 percent (25-for-27) and Wooster finished at an uncharacteristic rate of .579 (11-for-19). The Scots also turned the ball over above their season average (11.6 tpg) with 15 miscues, while Ohio Wesleyan committed just eight.

Brown's 20-point effort, which included 17 during the opening half, puts him at exactly 1,500 for his career, and he also dished out four assists.

Pannell edged him in the scoring department with 22 points and he tallied up 13 rebounds for the second double-double of his career. The first came against the Battling Bishops earlier this season.

Also with a double-double was Fanelly, who piled up 18 points and 13 rebounds in 23 minutes.

Gray's 29 points was not too far off of his career-high 35 that he scored in the teams' first meeting, and also impressive for Ohio Wesleyan was Nate Axelrod with 19 points, including a 13-of-13 effort at the charity stripe, and 10 assists.

Wooster will attempt to bounce back at third-place Wabash College (11-7, 6-5 NCAC) on Saturday afternoon.