Nelson Leads Wooster Past Pitt-Bradford In Opener

Blake Mealer goes up strong for two of his 12 points in the first half of the Scots' 94-86 victory over Pitt-Bradford.

WOOSTER, Ohio - Bryan Nelson (Kettering, Ohio / Kettering Fairmont), now a junior forward for The College of Wooster men's basketball team, picked up right where he left off last season by scoring a game-high 29 points - 21 in the second half alone - in leading Wooster past a pesky University of Pittsburgh at Bradford squad 94-86 in the first round of the Al Van Wie / Wooster Rotary Classic tonight.

The Scots (1-0) will take on the University of St. Thomas (Minn.), which won the tournament's opening game by a count of 70-63 over Randolph-Macon College, in the championship game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Pitt-Bradford and Randolph-Macon will play the consolation game at 5:30 p.m.

Nelson, who ended the 2000-01 campaign with 28- and 31-point performances in the final two games, put Wooster on his back during the second half. In a stretch of 14 minutes, the preseason All-American ripped off 19 points, as he answered every run that the Panthers mounted.

A big night from Nelson, who also had a game-high nine rebounds, is nothing new, to the Scots, who are trying to overcome their lack of depth and size from a year ago, and on Friday night they received strong contributions throughout the game from a cast of 10 players.

Freshman and fellow post player Blake Mealer (Wauseon, Ohio / Liberty-Benton) added 12 points in his first collegiate game, while demonstrating that Wooster has added some muscle to its frontline. Also, sophomore Rodney Mitchell (Elida, Ohio / Elida) provided a spark in the second half, creating Pitt-Bradford turnovers and scoring five-straight points to push Wooster's lead to 67-61 with 8:17 to go.

The Panthers came out on fire by hitting their first five three-pointers and jumping out to a 26-12 lead at the 10:36 mark of the first half. But, Scot senior Antwyan Reynolds (Mansfield, Ohio / Mansfield Senior) turned his game up a notch down the first half stretch, scoring seven of his 11 points, creating two steals, and blocking a shot to lead Wooster back to a 42-40 halftime advantage.

Pitt-Bradford kept the game close through much of the second half and even led by as many as seven at the 14:29 mark. Then, the Scots went on a 11-0 run, including a three-pointer by sophomore Robert Sims (Bedford Hts., Ohio / St. Peter Chanel), which gave Wooster a 57-55 lead that it would not relinquish.

Other notable performances from the Scots included a seven-point, seven-assist performance from junior Matt Smith (Elida, Ohio / Elida), and nine points from their other starter, sophomore Randy Sistrunk (Canton, Ohio / Canton McKinley).

For the Panthers, junior Matt Beacom led four players in double figures with 24 points. He also collected a team-high five rebounds.

In the opening game, the Tommies took control early with a 25-13 lead, but Randolph-Macon climbed right back into it and even gained a 34-31 lead before going into half tied at 37. St. Thomas (Minn.) methodically put away the Yellow Jackets in the second half, as it took a 46-45 lead with 16:32 to play, increased it up to 62-52 with 5:02 remaining, and settled for the seven-point win.

Individually, the Tommies were led by their preseason All-American Mark Buri, who reached a personal milestone with his 1,000th career point in the first half, and fellow guard Brendan Finn. Finn had 18 points and Buri finished with 16 points, while both canned 3-of-5 three-pointers.

For Randolph-Macon, Jared Mills came off the bench for a game-high 19 points as well as six boards.