The College of Wooster men's basketball team outscored Oberlin College 28-9 over the final 10:17 to turn away the Yeomen's latest upset bid with a 72-58 victory on Wednesday evening at Philips Gymnasium. The Fighting Scots won for the 67th time in the last 68 meetings against the Yeomen.
Wooster (3-3, 1-0 North Coast Athletic Conference) trailed 49-44 before pouncing when Oberlin (5-3, 0-1 NCAC) went on a 5:08 dry spell in the scoring column. Senior
EJ Kapihe's spinning jumper down low started the comeback, then classmate
Jaiden Cox-Holloway's fast-break dunk had Wooster within 49-48. Senior
Isaiah Johnson hit the go-ahead jumper from the elbow extended with 8:56 remaining. Kapihe's stick back capped Wooster's 12-0 run and pushed the Scots' lead to 56-49 with 5:24 remaining.
Wooster's lead was 12 when sophomore
Breckman Oakley's athleticism sealed Oberlin's fate for good. He blocked a floating jumper from
Rob Magner in the final minute, collected the rebound, and hit Jones for the alley hoop dunk on the other end. Jones' exclamation point on the victory made it a 14-point game.
The Scots did not lead until senior
Isaac Roeder's stick back made it 25-23 at the first half's 5:41 mark. The senior accounted for half of Wooster's 30 points in the opening stanza, seven of which came during the Scots' 9-0 stretch. Roeder took the ball from Oberlin star
JJ Gray when he tried to beat the Scots' defense with a spin move and made a jumper on the other end from the block. Next, Oakley found the guard open on the wing for a 3-pointer that tied the game at 23 with 6:05 on the clock.
Roeder turned in his first 20-point outing as a Scot, scoring 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting. He added six rebounds and two steals to the winning effort. Jones followed with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting. The junior forward posted the game-high in rebounds at 10. Senior
Cox-Holloway dropped in 15 points, while Kapihe finished with eight. Oakley led Wooster with two blocks.
Aided tremendously by a 54.5 percent (18-of-33) shooting percentage in the second half, Wooster was able to finish the night just shy of 50 percent (29-of-61) from the floor. Wooster hit 12-of-13 free throws and had 45 rebounds to Oberlin's 31.
Zach Smith scored 15 points to lead a quartet of Yeomen in double figures. However, Oberlin hit just 23.3 percent (7-of-30) of its second-half field goals, which included a 1-of-14 stretch in the stanza. Overall, Oberlin shot just 35 percent (21-of-60) on the night.
Next, Wooster plays at Pennsylvania State University Altoona (4-4) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6.
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