The College of Wooster men's basketball team had a chance at a second straight heroic final-minute victory, but the Fighting Scots could not get the job done in Wednesday's 72-67 loss to Denison University.

Wooster was forced to scramble in the final minute to get its foul count up. The Scots nearly came away with a steal on a double team with 34 seconds remaining, but Denison was granted a timeout. Once Wooster's foul count climbed to seven, Liam Taylor missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, opening the door for Wooster.
 
Senior Jaiden Cox-Holloway knocked down a triple to close the Scots within 68-67. He had a look at a tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, but it was off the mark. However, classmate Isaac Roeder was fouled by Denison trying for the rebound, giving Wooster a baseline inbounds play, trailing 70-67.

Wooster's execution was not there on the inbounds, as the pass went directly into the hands of Denison's Luke Salkowski. Owen Giannoulias was fouled and made both free throws to make it a five-point game with a little over six seconds left.

Wooster overcame a 15-point first-half deficit to lead 58-56 with 6:47 remaining. Cox-Holloway knocked down the go-ahead triple, but the lead was short lived, as Samson Zack answered right back with a 3-pointer to shift the lead back to Denison. Wooster was able to get the score tied at 64 on sophomore Breckman Oakley's driving layup with 4:00 remaining. Roeder's jumper at the rim in the middle of the Big Red's interior defenders pulled the Scots within 64-62.

Denison's lead was 11 when first-year Tommy Vaughn Jr. knocked down a triple with 14:08 to go. That sparked Wooster for a bit, as the guard hit a step-back jumper from just inside the arc that made it a six-point game, and senior EJ Kapihe's 3-pointer pulled the Scots within 54-49 with 12:10 to go.

Kapihe hit again from deep to get the deficit to 56-53 before Roeder made it a one-point game at the charity stripe with 7:17 remaining.

Cox-Holloway led all players with 19 points, 15 of which came from beyond the arc. Vaughn Jr. poured in 15 points and went 6-of-10 from the floor. Roeder rounded out the double-digit Scots with 11 points.

Junior Quincy Jones secured eight rebounds to lead Wooster and had the Scots' lone blocked shot of the night.

Wooster shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52), but was handcuffed by turnovers, with Denison turning the Scots' 14 into 20 points.

Aidan King led Denison with 13 points off the bench. He had two of the Big Red's 10 steals. Wooster did keep Nick Heath in check, as the Big Red's top shooter hit just two triples after carving up the stat sheet with seven when the teams played in Granville.

Denison shot 45.8 percent (27-of-59) and outrebounded Wooster 34-25.

Denison, which won at least a share of the NCAC title, is now 16-8 with an 11-4 mark in NCAC play.

Wooster fell to 8-16, 5-10 NCAC. Oberlin College (12-12, 5-10 NCAC) moved into a tie with Wooster for sixth in the conference with a 78-59 win over Kenyon College (10-15, 4-12 NCAC) on Wednesday.

Next, Wooster wraps up the regular season with a 3 p.m. home game against DePauw University (17-7, 10-5 NCAC) on Saturday, Feb. 21. Wooster needs a win, or to post the same result as Oberlin on Saturday to make this year's NCAC Tournament.