The College of Wooster men's basketball team played its best stretch of basketball at the onset of the second half, but could not maintain its lead, as Pennsylvania State University Altoona upended the Fighting Scots 69-67 on Saturday afternoon at Adler Arena.

Turnovers factored heavily into Saturday's outcome, as Wooster (3-4) had 17 to Penn State Altoona's (5-4) eight. Wooster nearly committed turnover 18 of the contest with about 45 seconds remaining. It took a diving effort from senior Isaac Roeder on the sideline near midcourt to keep possession with the Scots. Following his timeout call, Wooster had nine seconds to get a shot off. Roeder's heavily contested turnaround jumper from near the elbow was off the mark, keeping it a 67-66 Wooster lead.

Rasheed Daniels' step-back 3-pointer on the wing was the winning bucket with 6.1 seconds showing on the clock. Wooster senior guard Isaiah Johnson was able to get down the floor and tried to tie the game with a driving layup that missed.

Wooster took a 67-65 lead with 1:30 remaining, thanks to senior EJ Kapihe. The Scots' forward backed down the Lions' defense, then hit a turnaround jumper from about five feet out.

Earlier in the half, Wooster was rolling, outscoring Penn State Altoona 19-10 over the opening 7:02. Wooster's lead was 52-41 when senior Jaiden Cox-Holloway beat Penn State Altoona down the floor for a fast-break layup. Within the 19-10 stretch was an 11-3 Wooster run that started when junior Quincy Jones cleaned up his own miss at the rim. Jones dropped in six of the 11 points, while Roeder's driving layup made it 44-36 with 17:06 on the clock.

Wooster had the lead early, yet was forced to play from behind for most of the first half. The Scots rallied to tie the score at 25 when Cox-Holloway hit a triple from the top. Jones' hook shot from about 12 feet tied the game at 27, then Johnson picked off a pass in the final 80 seconds of the half. He was fouled, then gave Wooster a 29-27 lead at the line. Next, Cox-Holloway's drive sucked in the Lions' defense, leaving to an easy dish off to Jones, whose layup made it 31-29. Roeder's layup kept the lead with Wooster, which took a 33-31 advantage into the break.

Jones dropped in a team-high 15 points and was 7-of-11 from the floor on the day. He added eight rebounds. Cox-Holloway led all players with 14 rebounds, and he scored 13 points, passed out four assists, and had two of Wooster's five steals. Roeder (13 points, eight rebounds) and Kapihe (10 points) were the others with stats of note.

Wooster shot 41.2 percent (28-of-68) from the floor and outrebounded Penn State Altoona 54-27.

Braelen Cage led all players with 20 points. He was followed by Daniels, who had 14, led by the game-winning 3-pointer.

Penn State Altoona shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) for the game.

Wooster (1-0 North Coast Athletic Conference) is idle until a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, Dec. 13 at DePauw University (5-2, 1-0 NCAC).