Ian Franks

WOOSTER, Ohio — The College of Wooster, behind Ian Franks (Greenwich, Ohio / South Central), who scored more than 20 points for the second consecutive game, won the consolation of the 15th annual Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic, as the Fighting Scots held off Messiah College by an 86-77 score Saturday evening at Timken Gymnasium.

Washington & Jefferson (3-1), which upended Wooster 72-70 on Friday, won the championship by knocking off a second nationally-ranked team in Randolph-Macon College 71-64. Entering the tourney, the host Fighting Scots came in at No. 21 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and Randolph-Macon at No. 14.

Playing in the consolation for just the second time in the event's history, Wooster (1-1) came out a bit slow, falling behind 16-10. Minutes later, the Scots would grab a six-point lead themselves, turning an 18-13 deficit into a 30-24 lead with a 17-6 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Matt Fegan (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville).

Wooster would continue to hold the advantage the rest of the first half, including 40-35 at the break.

After seeing the margin swell to nine (52-43) early in the second, Messiah (0-3) exploded for 10 unanswered points, ending the run on a dunk by Danny Wrigley.

The Scots had a response, though, as not long after, they rallied for a 16-2 stretch, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Justin Hallowell (Worthington, Ohio / Thomas Worthington). That added up to a 13-point cushion (74-61) at the six-minute mark.

The Falcons stayed within striking distance, cutting the lead down to five (82-77) with :39 to play, but Dustin Geitgey (West Salem, Ohio / Northwestern) followed with a couple of clutch free throws to seal the victory.

Overall, Wooster shot 54.5 percent from the field (30-for-55), including 12-of-23 3-pointers (.522), and outrebounded Messiah 37-23, but couldn't put away the Falcons until late due to 17 turnovers and 14-of-21 free throw shooting (.667).

Franks scored 24 points, a night after tossing in 21 in his first career start. He shot 8-of-11 from the field, including canning all three 3-pointers, while Hallowell produced 17 points, with most coming from outside the arc (5-for-11). Marty Bidwell (Middletown, Ohio / Bishop Fenwick) added an even dozen markers in the scorebook as well as four assists, and Bryan Wickliffe (Columbus, Ohio / St. Charles Prep) led all players with eight rebounds.

For Messiah, Drew Sneeringer paced four players in double figures with 19 points.

In the title game, Washington & Jefferson never trailed. The Presidents broke out to an 11-2 lead and gutted out the win, as they never were able to extend the margin to double-digits.

After trailing 31-24 at the half, Randolph-Macon (1-2) chipped away, eventually tying it for the only time at 47-47. However, Washington & Jefferson answered with four-straight points and continued to hang on to a one- or two-possession lead until free throws made it a three-possession cushion in the final minute.

Tournament MVP honors went to the Presidents' Albert Varacallo, who had 18 points in the championship on 7-of-9 field goals, including a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range. The defensive MVP award went to Justin Short of Randolph-Macon as he had a game-high 30 points in addition to his fine work on the other end.

The all-tournament team consisted of Josip Lucic-Jozak and Wahab Owolabi from Washington & Jefferson, Randolph-Macon's Jordan Brown, Franks, and Andy Hawk of Messiah.

The Scots will be back in action Tuesday night at Carnegie Mellon University (2-0).