Scots Stumble in Meadville, 76-65

MEADVILLE, Pennsylvania – Turnover woes had The College of Wooster men's basketball team behind the eight ball on Tuesday evening at the David V. Wise Center, where Allegheny College upset the Fighting Scots 76-65.

Wooster (15-7, 11-4 North Coast Athletic Conference) coughed the ball up 20 times and Allegheny (7-11, 5-7 NCAC) scored 27 of its points following the Scots' miscues. The toughest stretch started with 11:37 remaining. Allegheny's Josh Ratesic stole the ball from senior Najee Hardaway to start a sequence of five straight Wooster possessions that ended with turnovers. Allegheny scored 11 points off of those five mistakes alone, with Ratesic's layup upping the Gators' lead to 61-45 with 9:20 remaining.

Sophomore Elijah Meredith hit back-to-back three-pointers in the waning moments of the game, the second of which had Wooster within 71-65 with 1:26 remaining. However, Luke Barker sealed the deal with Allegheny's 16th steal of the night with just under 50 seconds to go.

Transitions marked one area where Wooster did find success. Meredith flushed home his first of two fast-break dunks just 1:21 into the game, and sophomore Carter Warstler stepped between his Gator and an Andre Wilder pass near the 14:50 mark prior to taking off for a breakaway layup. Later, first-year Jamir Billings' exploitation in the transition game continued, as assist six on the night came on Meredith's second slam just before halftime. The Scots finished with 12 fast-break points on the night.

Wooster was hitting its shots in the first half, connecting at a 51.6 percent (16-of-31) clip to Allegheny's 34.2 percent (13-of-38) mark, but had just a 34-32 lead to show for the shooting disparity at the half because of the turnovers. Wooster had eight first-half turnovers to just two by Allegheny. The Gators went on to open the second half with an 8-0 run and never trailed again.

Meredith's 27 points led all scorers, and the Scots' forward went 12-of-23 on the night from the floor. His seven rebounds trailed Billings for high honors on the team. Billings matched his collegiate high with 11 rebounds and passed out eight assists. His season haul is now at 134, a total fourth in the program annals. Hardaway and junior Turner Kurt scored 12 apiece.

Wooster shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64) for the game, was just 5-of-20 on three-pointers, and held a slight 41-37 edge in rebounding.

Allegheny's leading scorer Brian Roberts, Jr. dropped in 26 points and went a perfect 10-of-10 at the charity stripe. Caden Hinckley caused matchup problems all over the court with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and five steals.

Allegheny shot 42.4 percent (28-of-66), was 4-of-22 on three-pointers, went 16-of-18 at the line, and had just 10 turnovers.

The Gators collected their first win over the Scots in Meadville since January 15, 1997. Allegheny, which snapped Wooster's remarkable 48-game winning streak in the series during the 2019-20 season, ended the Scots' run in Meadville at 23 consecutive wins.

Next, Wooster hosts Wabash College (17-3, 12-1 NCAC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 12. Prior to the game the team will honor its seniors planning on graduating this spring.

photo by Abbi Tarburton '22