Balanced Attack Leads Wooster Past Earlham 88-79

Bryan Nelson led Wooster with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting against Earlham.

The College of Wooster men's basketball team, ranked 14th in NCAA Division III by d3hoops.com, rebounded on Saturday from a mid-week upset and defeated Earlham College 88-79 on the road in Richmond, Ind., in each teams North Coast Athletic Conference opener.

Wooster (3-2, 1-0 NCAC), which led comfortably for most of the second half after using a 22-5 run to open up a 58-39 lead with 12:07 remaining in regulation, had to hold off a late Earlham rally.

The Quakers (2-4, 0-1 NCAC) were able to cut it all the way down to a five-point game (80-75) with :59 left, as they put together an 11-2 run after the Scots led by 14 (78-64) at the 4:24 mark.

Wooster junior Bryan Nelson (Kettering, Ohio / Kettering Fairmont) answered, though, with a lay up and two free throws on its next two possessions. However, Earlham matched Nelson's four points with four of its own to keep the advantage at five with :31 to play.

But, the Scots sealed it down the stretch with clutch free throw shooting, as the backcourt of Robert Sims (Bedford Heights, Ohio / St. Peter Chanel) and Antwyan Reynolds (Mansfield, Ohio / Mansfield Senior) each converted two from the charity stripe to bump it up to a nine-point margin of victory.

Wooster, which only trailed in the early minutes and owned a 34-27 halftime advantage, was led by Nelson, who scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-11 field-goal shooting and 7-of-10 conversions at the line.

Reynolds did a little bit of everything, as he tossed in 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, dished out five assists, and recorded four steals, four rebounds, and a blocked shot.

Two other Scots turned in double-digit performances with freshman forward Blake Mealer (Wauseon, Ohio / Liberty-Benton) coming off the bench to score 11 points and sophomore guard Rodney Mitchell (Elida, Ohio / Elida) throwing in 10 points.

Also noteworthy, sophomore Randy Sistrunk (Canton, Ohio / Canton McKinley) produced a Wooster-best eight rebounds.

The Quakers were led by senior sharpshooter Travis Brett, who canned 4-of-10 three-pointers and made 9-of-10 free throws for 21 points. Jason Smith contributed 20 points and five assists to the losing effort, while junior post player Brady Keaton had 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

The Scots will next return home and play an early, but key league game against Ohio Wesleyan University (4-3, 1-0 NCAC) on Wednesday (Dec. 5) at 7:30 p.m.