No. 10 Wooster Improves to 5-0 in NCAC Play For First Time Since 2013-14

GAMBIER, Ohio – A 12-0 first-half and 10-0 second-half run against Kenyon College enabled 10th-ranked College of Wooster men's basketball to take control of Wednesday's 84-71 win at Tomsich Arena.

Wooster (13-1, 5-0 North Coast Athletic Conference), ranked within D3hoops.com's top-10 for the third-straight poll, saw its 39-31 halftime lead climb to 49-31 before Kenyon's (2-11, 0-4 NCAC) Miles Versa scored the Owls' first post-halftime points with 16:34 remaining. Steals from senior JJ Cline and senior Jamir Billings aided in Wooster keeping Keyon off the board. Offensively, a driving reserve lay-in from first-year Breckman Oakley, a midrange turnaround jumper by junior Isaac Roeder, and a layup from junior Jaiden Cox-Holloway were the big plays.

Cline's first-half defense enabled Wooster to overcome a slow offensive start. He poked the ball away from Kenyon leading scorer Gefen Bar-Cohen on consecutive possessions, and Wooster scored following both steals. First, junior EJ Kapihe kicked the ball out to Cox-Holloway on the wing for the go-ahead 3-pointer that made it 22-20 at 6:44. Cox-Holloway's baseline floater dropped home following Cline's second steal, then Oakley kept up the strong defense, denying Nick Nelson at the rim. Billings found Cox-Holloway for a second triple that boosted Wooster's lead to 27-24 with 4:55 on the clock. Cox-Holloway's eight quick points were part of Wooster's first-half run.

As the first half wound down, junior Isaiah Johnson buried a step-back 3-pointer that upped Wooster's lead to 11 at 36-25, but Kenyon's late 6-1 stretch kept the Owls in the game for the time being. Kenyon closed within 12 at 79-67, thanks to a Bar-Cohen stick-back with 2:12 showing on the second-half clock. Wooster senior Nick Everett took over from there, finishing his 27-point night with five straight points to put the game out of reach.

The physical contest saw the teams combine for 45 fouls, which resulted in 62 free throws. Both team's leading scorers did a number on their stat lines at the charity stripe. Everett went 11-of-14 to go with an 8-of-12 mark from the floor for his 27 points. Wooster held Bar-Cohen, Kenyon's leading scorer, to 3-of-13 shooting, but he got to 17 points due to an 11-of-16 night at the stripe.

Everett posted a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end. Cox-Holloway followed Evertt in both departments with 14 points and nine rebounds. Johnson's 13 points were one off a career-best.

Wooster's 16-of-26 shooting in the second half elevated the Fighting Scots to a 53.6 (30-of-56) field-goal percentage for the game. Wooster nearly doubled Kenyon 46-24 in rebounding, giving the NCAC's No. 1-rated rebounding margin team a 42-board advantage over the last two games.

Of note, Wooster is 5-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

Versa scored 14 points and passed out five assists to back up Bar-Cohen's team-best 17 points. Jackson Maloney hit double figures with 13 points, and he had four of Kenyon's nine steals.

Kenyon shot 35.8 percent (19-of-53) for the game and had just 10 turnovers to 17 for the Scots.

Next, Wooster is at Wabash College (7-6, 3-1 NCAC) for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday, January 11.