Billings Breaks Steals Record, No. 8 Wooster Hits 20 3-Pointers in Rout of DePauw

WOOSTER, Ohio – Jamir Billings scored his 1,000th point, became the program's all-time leader in steals, and the eighth-ranked College of Wooster men's basketball team made the third-most 3-pointers in a game in Sunday's 84-53 win over DePauw University at Timken Gymnasium.

Wooster, 8-0 (3-0 North Coast Athletic Conference) for the first time since 2013-14, climbed from 13th to eighth in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll for the program's first top-10 ranking since 2016. The Fighting Scots responded by shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 20-of-40 3-pointers. The 20 makes are the most since the program hit a record 25 against Cabrini University on November 17, 2006, and it is the fourth time the Scots made at least 20 3-pointers in a game.

Billings' step-back game was on point early, as the senior guard knocked down triples on three consecutive Wooster possessions. The 3-pointer at 16:59 was the guard's 1,000th-career point and he is the 45th in program history to score 1,000 points at Wooster. All 15 of Billings' points came on 3-pointers. Billings was not done with the Sunday highlight reel, poking the ball away from Andre Ozlowski at the first half's 6:56 mark. That was Billings' 259th steal, moving him into a tie with Antwyan Reynolds for the most in program history. Steal 260 was right behind, with the record-breaker coming with 5:25 on the clock. Billy Bach's pass found its way to Billings for the record-setting steal.   

Junior Isaac Roeder's first career start was as memorable as Billings' afternoon. The junior dropped in a career-high 18 points, all of which came from beyond the arc. He was 4-of-6 from range in the first half as part of Wooster's 13-of-23 team showing. First-year Breckman Oakley controlled the corner triples, hitting all three of his attempts as part of an 11-point first half.

Wooster was a perfect 6-of-6 from inside the arc in the opening half, resulting in a 65.5 field-goal percentage for the stanza. The Scots' best stretch was an 18-0 run that enabled Wooster to open a commanding 29-13 lead when Oakley's triple went down at 10:14.

Later, Roeder's third 3-pointer of the half moved the lead north of 20, and the junior was at it again on the next possession, hitting from range to make it 45-21. Oakley was up next, with his third triple of the opening half, and the Scots lead was 48-23 following the 9-2 three-possession run.

Senior JJ Cline, sophomore Robbie Cass, sophomore Zach Oliver, and first-year Aliyy King were new 3-point scorers on Sunday's stat sheet in the second half. Wooster's unselfishness continued, as the Scots had assists on 11 of their 13 second-half field goals. Four of those were from Billings, who had eight assists on the day, despite not playing the final 13:52 of the rout.

Wooster shot 51.6 (32-of-62) overall for the game and did not attempt a single free throw. Junior Jaiden Cox-Holloway led all players with seven rebounds. Junior EJ Kapihe had two of Wooster's four blocked shots.

Sam Jacobs scored 15 points to lead DePauw. The Tigers shot poorly, fishing just 31 percent (18-of-58) from the floor and a woeful 2-of-24 from beyond the arc.

Next, Wooster heads to Hawaii for a pair of games. The first of those takes place on Thursday, December 19 against Johnson & Wales University Providence (2-5). Tipoff is at 10:45 p.m. ET (Ohio time)/5:45 p.m. HT (Hawaii time).