Price Surpasses 1,000 Points in No. 16 Wooster's 92-80 Win Over Oberlin

WOOSTER, Ohio – Senior Ashton Price became a 1,000-point collegiate scorer to lead a balanced College of Wooster men's basketball effort in Saturday night's 92-80 win over Oberlin College at Timken Gymnasium.

Wooster (5-0, 1-0 North Coast Athletic Conference), ranked 16th in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, saw its leading scorer surpass 1,000 career points on a corner 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining in the first half. Price's triple tied Saturday's conference clash at 37, and helped rally the Fighting Scots back from an early eight-point deficit. Junior Isaac Roeder's stick back on the next possession gave Wooster its first lead since Price's driving layup at the first half's 15:53 mark.

Senior Jamir Billings, one of two other Scots within 62 career points of 1,000, gave Wooster the lead for good on a driving layup with 2:34 remaining in the opening half. Wooster built out a pair of four-point leads, the second of which was 45-41 following another Billings driving layup. However, Oberlin's (5-1, 0-1 NCAC) Asaan Snipes-Rea's triple from just past halfcourt went in at the buzzer to trim Wooster's halftime lead to 45-44.

Wooster's length ultimately broke Oberlin down in the second half, especially with forward Milun Micanovic in foul trouble for the majority of the game. Wooster's bigs went on a 6-0 run to pull Wooster ahead 67-55 at the 11:28 mark. Junior EJ Kapihe's turnaround jumper fell to make it a 63-55 game. Then, Billings found Kapihe for a layup to grow the lead to double digits before junior Jaiden Cox-Holloway's tip-in capped the run.

Later, Roeder kept an offensive possession alive on the glass leading to a Price second-chance bucket that made it 69-58 at the 9:44 mark. Wooster's lead was back to 10 when Billings worked his way through the Yeomen's defense for an uncontested driving layup with 5:12 on the clock.

Oberlin was within four when Billings found Price open in the corner for a 3-pointer with 85 seconds remaining. The three ball started Wooster's game-clinching 7-0 run. Kapihe's tip-in, plus two Billings free throws were the other scoring plays.

Thanks in large part to torrid shooting from Zach Smith, Oberlin point guard Yuuki Okubo passed out 15 assists. However, one of Div. III's best at assist-to-turnover ratio continued to have tough sledding against Wooster's defense, turning the ball over four times. Length proved to be a difference, especially in the second half, when Cox-Holloway snatched an Okubo pass to the corner out of the air. That marked the third of Okubo's turnovers on the night.

Smith canned 7-of-11 shots from beyond the arc as part of a 27-point night to pace Oberlin. JJ Gray followed with 15 points and a co-team-leading six rebounds. Okubo added eight points and six rebounds to the 15 assists.

Oberlin shot 43.8 percent (28-of-64) from the field and had just 11 turnovers.

Price's career-high 29 points led all scorers. Wooster's guard was 9-of-15 from the floor and had three assists. Billings followed with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists, and a steal. Cox-Holloway helped Wooster crush Oberlin 44-28 on the boards with 12 to go with his three steals. Senior Nick Everett finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Wooster shot 50 percent (32-of-64) from the floor and had 12 second-chance points to Oberlin's five.

Next, Wooster is at Hiram College (3-3, 0-1 NCAC) for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, December 4.