WOOSTER, Ohio – Different Fighting Scots carried the torch in various areas, and that equated to a 75-57 team win for The College of Wooster men's basketball team over Saint Vincent College on night one of the program's annual Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic.
Wooster (1-0) blitzed St. Vincent (1-3) at the onset with an 8-0 run in the opening 66 seconds of the game. Senior Brandon Styers, who scored a game-high 22 points, started his night with a stick-back, and junior Turner Kurt canned a three-pointer on the next possession. Styers followed Kurt's three-ball up with one of his own.
To its credit, St. Vincent, a team with all first-years and sophomores, hung around in the first half and was within 33-32 at halftime. Wooster hit its groove in the second half, starting the stanza with a 15-4 stretch. Junior Tayler McNeal's jumper off a turnover capped the run with Wooster leading 48-36 at that point. Jamir Billings, the first Wooster freshman to start his Scots' debut since alumnus Eric Bulic in 2015, was the catalyst of the stretch, doing a little bit of everything along the way. Offensively, he nailed a pull-up jumper that made it 38-32 Wooster with 19:16 to go, and on the next trip down the floor, the offensive arsenal was on display with a driving layup. Then, the Scots' rookie played facilitator, leading sophomore Nick Everett to the bucket for fast-break slams on consecutive possessions. At the other end of the floor, Billings picked up steal three on the night, and senior Najee Hardaway got in on the fun with a steal at the 16:02 mark.
Wooster never looked back from the 15-4 stretch, maintaining a double-digit lead the rest of the way. Hardaway's three the old-fashion way upped the lead to 63-46 with 6:54 remaining, and marked the capper of the decisive 7-0 stretch. Hardaway scored five of the points during that run, and had his fourth steal of the night during it.
Styers shot 7-of-11 from the floor, went a perfect 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, and was one of three Scots with at least five rebounds on the night. Kurt dropped in 15 points in his Wooster debut, while McNeal added 11. McNeal's 15 rebounds marked a career-high and that total is good for the fourth-most in Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic history. Billings' balanced night ended with nine points, six assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Hardaway led all players with five steals.
Anthony Dillard scored 17 points to lead St. Vincent, and Nelson Etuk dropped 12.
Wooster shot just 37.7 percent (26-for-69), but a big positive was the defensive shooting percentage, where St. Vincent was just 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from the floor. Wooster took charge on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 44-38, and 21 of the Scots' 75 points came off Bearcat turnovers.
Ripon College (2-0) opened this year's Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic with a 75-66 win over Spalding University (1-4). Red Hawks' center David DeValk led five Ripon players in double figures in the scoring column with 15 points, and he had a double-double, thanks to 11 rebounds. DeValk shot 7-of-9 from the floor. Luke Meinholz added four steals.
Spalding's Troy Amanor's 17 points led all players. He also had top honors on the team with six rebounds.
Ripon shot 44.3 percent (27-of-61) from the floor to Spalding's 45.3 percent (24-of-53).
Saturday's action starts with St. Vincent and Spalding in the 5:30 p.m. consolation game. Wooster and Ripon play in the 7:30 p.m. championship game, with the announcement of the Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic All-Tournament Team set for the conclusion of the championship game. Fans can get half-price admission with the donation of two canned or boxed food items for People to People Ministries' Holiday Food Drive.