Scots Remain Undefeated By Holding On For 74-66 Win

Blake Mealer soars over Benedictine's Adam Hansen to score two of his career-high 17 points Saturday night.

Benedictine University hit 9-of-15 second-half three-pointers to close a 43-21 halftime deficit down to four (69-65), but unbeaten College of Wooster hung on for a 74-66 victory on Saturday night to advance to the title game of the annual E.M. "Mose" Hole/Wooster Kiwanis Classic.

Wooster (9-0) will face a big test in the championship, scheduled for Sunday (Dec. 29) at 4 p.m., as it will face Kalamazoo College (7-1), which knocked off Illinois College 78-63 in the opening game. The two last played at Kalamazoo's annual tournament in 1999-00 (when this year's senior class was freshmen), and Kalamazoo prevailed in a low-scoring affair (62-54).

Against Benedictine, the Scots looked to be well on their way to their eighth double-digit win of the season, jumping out to a 22-point lead at the break on 60.9 percent first-half shooting from the floor (14-of-23). However, the Eagles made five of their first six from behind the arc to cut the lead to single digits less than eight minutes into the second stanza (51-42) and to five at the midway point (53-48).

Wooster was able to boost it back up to a 12-point game at 64-52 on a series of three-pointers, two by Ryan Snyder (Sebring, Ohio / Sebring McKinley) and one by Matt Smith (Elida, Ohio / Elida), but Benedictine came back again with back-to-back threes to make it a two-possession game.

The Scots were finally able to put it away, when Blake Mealer (Wauseon, Ohio / Liberty-Benton) connected on an open three-pointer to give his squad a 72-65 lead with 1:11 left, followed by a defensive stop and pair of free throws from Rodney Mitchell (Elida, Ohio / Elida).

Snyder led the Wooster offense, hitting 7-of-9 shots, including all five of his three-point attempts, en route to a game-high 19 points, while Mealer had 17 tallies in 31 productive minutes. Mitchell had a complete game as well, scoring 11 and adding seven assists and five rebounds, and reserve Matt Schlingman (Ashland, Ohio / Ashland) contributed 11 points in the post.

Bryan Nelson (Kettering, Ohio / Kettering Fairmont) helped Wooster to a 31-27 rebounding advantage with a team-high eight boards.

For Benedictine, Matt Harrison scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half to pace the comeback effort, while Chris Hebeler and Bryan Uselding added 13 and 11 tallies, respectively.

As hot as the Eagles were in the second half, the Scots shot well throughout. The hosts finished at a 56.5 rate from the field (26-of-46) for the game, highlighted by 11-of-19 from three-point land (.579).

In the opener, Kalamazoo held a 38-32 halftime advantage and steadily pulled away from Illinois in the second half, leading by as much as 18 (71-53) at the 4:31 mark before a late rally by the Blueboys.

Dirk Rhinehart scored a game-high 23 points for the victorious Hornets, while Garrett Ingram hit 8-of-13 field goals and three free throws for 19 points to lead Illinois.´

Benedictine (6-4) and Illinois (3-4) will play the consolation contest on Sunday at 2 p.m.