Fighting Scots Split Two-Game California Road Swing

James Cooper

The College of Wooster men’s basketball team, ranked No. 1 in NCAA Div. III, suffered its first loss of the 2006-07 season, dropping a high-scoring affair to NAIA opponent California Baptist University 94-89 Wednesday night in the second of a two-game road trip to southern California. On Monday, the Fighting Scots cruised past Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 97-77.

Playing its third game in five days, Wooster (9-1) got off to a slow start at California Baptist (8-4) and seemed to being play catch-up the rest of the way. The Lancers were ahead by double-digits less than nine minutes into the action (23-12), but the Scots did comeback during the first half, even taking the lead on one occasion (38-37) before going into the break knotted at 42.

In the second half, an early 13-4 run actually gave Wooster a five-point advantage (59-54). After a timeout, though, California Baptist answered with a 13-2 stretch of its own and the Scots played from behind for the remainder. The Lancers extended their lead to as much as 11 (78-67) before Wooster made a furious rally during the final five minutes.

The Scots made four of their next five 3-pointers, two by James Cooper (Springfield, Ohio / Springfield South) and two by Devin Fulk (Newark, Ohio / Licking Valley), pulling within three (89-86) with just under a minute left. Cal Baptist then made 1-of-2 free throws, but Wooster couldn’t cut into the lead any further.

Against Pomona-Pitzer (5-3), the Scots were the ones that had an explosive start, scoring 12 unanswered points during the first four minutes. The lead would only dip below double-digits twice the rest of the game, as Wooster steadily built a 20-point cushion by halftime (47-27) and maintained a 17-to-31-point margin throughout the second half.

Tom Port (Avon Lake, Ohio / Avon Lake) and Cooper led the Scots during their California trip. Port combined for 39 points (18 vs. Pomona-Pitzer, 21 vs. California Baptist) on 18-of-25 shooting from the field. Cooper contributed 36 points in the two games (16 vs. Pomona-Pitzer, 20 vs. California Baptist) while hitting 7-of-10 3-pointers.

Other noteworthy performances for Wooster included Brandon Johnson (Columbus, Ohio / Groveport Madison) scoring 18 against Pomona-Pitzer before foul trouble limited him to just 11 minutes on Wednesday, Tim Vandervaart (North Canton, Ohio / Hoover) grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds to go with 11 points for a double-double Monday, and Fulk produced 13 and 15 tallies in the scorebook, connecting on three 3-pointers each night.

The Scots are headed back home, where, after a brief holiday break, they’ll welcome Calvin College (5-3), No. 7 ranked Ohio Northern University (8-1), and the University of Wis.-La Crosse (6-3) to Timken Gymnasium for the 44th annual “Mose” Hole/Wooster Kiwanis Classic Dec. 29-30.