Scots’ 24-5 Outburst at the Start Leads to Decisive NCAC Quarterfinal Win

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster rode a hot start to a resounding 106-68 victory in its North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal match-up, as the second-seeded Fighting Scots advanced past the No. 7 seed, Denison University, Tuesday night at Timken Gymnasium.

Wooster (21-5) moves on to the semifinals and will face third-seeded Wabash College (18-8) Friday evening on the campus of top-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University.

After being upended by Denison (13-13) inside Timken Gymnasium 17 days ago, the Scots came out and scored on 12 of their first 13 possessions while helping force the Big Red into 3-for-10 shooting from the field and four turnovers. During that stretch, Wooster built leads of 10-0, 24-5 just 5:21 into the action, and 29-9.

Then, Denison's offense started picking up the pace and the Scots cooled off a little, as the visitors closed within 12 points at 34-22 with 8:46 to play in the first half.

Out of a timeout, Wooster mounted a 14-3 run, featuring nine points from Evan Pannell, and went on to a 62-35 halftime cushion. Overall, the Scots made 71 percent of their field goals (23-for-32) during the opening 20 minutes, and Pannell had a 20-point half.

Wooster got off to a slow start at the outset of the second, which allowed the Big Red to chip away and make it a 20-point game (65-45), however, that was as close as it would get. The Scots responded with seven unanswered points and were never threatened again on the way to the 38-point win.

The final shooting numbers included a season-high .603 rate from the field (41-for-68) for the Scots and 31.8 percent (21-for-66) for Denison.

Thirteen Wooster players got into the scoring column, led by Pannell, who finished with 23 points. Dan Fanelly almost had a perfect night from the field (7-for-8) during a 17-point performance and he brought down a game-high 13 rebounds for a double-double, while Spencer Williams added 13 points – his highest scoring game in the month of February.

Also of note, Xavier Brown had three assists and two steals and Josh Kipfer was active underneath with six points on 3-of-3 field goals and seven boards.

For the Big Red, Briggs King tallied a team-high 16 points.

Wabash and Wooster, which split their regular season series, will tip-off at 5:30 p.m., on Friday in Delaware, Ohio.