Another Thrilling Finish Goes Wooster's Way, 77-71

WOOSTER, Ohio – Junior Carter Warstler's hustle and effort over the final 5:28 gave The College of Wooster men's basketball team the boost it needed to take care of Albion College, and the Fighting Scots capped night one of the E.M. "Mose" Hole/Wooster Kiwanis Classic with a 77-71 win over the Britons at Timken Gymnasium.

The back-and-forth tilt featured 15 lead changes and six ties. Warstler's go-ahead triple with 5:28 remaining broke a 60-60 affair. Not long after, the junior guard's energy resulted in a deflection, and while Albion (3-7) retained possession momentarily, it sent the Britons into scramble mode. A pass to the sideline that Warstler deflected off a Brit gave Wooster (8-2) possession back, and the guard was right back in the fray with an offensive rebound on the other end.

Later, Warstler's free throws upped the lead to 72-64 at the 2:10 mark, and he iced the game at the line with :12 on the clock. Prior to Warstler getting the job done at the line, sophomore Jamir Billings picked perfect end points on a pair of cuts to the basket. Senior Turner Kurt's dish low to Billings led to Wooster upping the lead to 66-62 at the 4:01 mark, while senior Najee Hardaway's fifth helper of the game enabled Billings to extend the advantage to 68-62 on the next trip up the court.

Billings' three-pointer at the 8:32 mark gave Wooster the lead, and the Scots stayed ahead until Khy Winston's free throws at 5:47 tied the score at 60. Wooster, which started the second half with a 35-33 deficit, trailed by as many as six before junior Elijah Meredith started to right the ship with a three-ball with the clock showing 18:14.

First-half highlights centered around junior Nick Everett's steady energy off the bench with six points, four rebounds, and four fouls drawn. His layup off a Billings pass at 14:44 gave Wooster a 13-10 lead, which marked the biggest by the Scots in the opening stanza.

Meredith shared high scorer honors with Albion's Fred Garland at 20. Billings backed Meredith up with another well-rounded game, which included 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Everett and Hardaway scored 10 apiece and combined for 12 of Wooster's 43 rebounds.

Wooster shot 41.5 percent (27-of-65) for the game, was 16-of-21 at the line, and used its size advantage to roll to a 43-28 lead in rebounding.

Garland padded his line with five assists, while Ken Thomas tallied up 14 points.

Albion shot 45.8 percent (27-of-59), was north of 50 percent from range (9-of-17), and had 15 turnovers.

Twenty-second ranked Heidelberg University (9-1) held off Carnegie Mellon University's (7-3) furious comeback to win Thursday's first game 91-85. Heidelberg led by as many as 23 points in the second half before Carnegie Mellon pulled within 85-83 at the 1:58 mark.

Heidelberg hit 16 triples, four of which came from Seth Hohman, who was one of six Student Princes to score at least 10 points. Trey Watkins matched Hohman with four three-pointers and passed out a game-high six assists.

R.J. Holmes scored 22 points to lead Carnegie Mellon. He was 10-of-20 from the floor and sparked the Tartans with a thunderous second-half dunk.

Friday's schedule starts with Albion and Carnegie Mellon at 5 p.m. with Wooster and Heidelberg to follow at 7 p.m.