Having suffered its first NCAC loss of the season in its most recent outing, Wooster (13-2, 6-1 NCAC) came out on fire. After an early 2-2 tie, the Scots reeled off 19 of the next 21 to hold a 17-point advantage right before the midway point of the first half.
Wooster’s early offensive success was fueled by the play of Tom Port and Matt Schlingman, who combined for 14 of the first 21 points. They ended up with 15 and 12 tallies, respectively, including an alley-oop dunk by Port via a pass from Ryan Snyder during the second half.
Hiram (4-12, 2-5 NCAC) did have a mini-rally to pull within single-digits at 21-12, but the Scots responded with another run, this time outscoring the Terriers 27-7 to close out the half (48-19).
After the opening basket of the second half, the margin never dipped below 30 and escalated to as much as 52 before the final 45-point decision.
Joining Port and Schlingman in double figures were Rodney Mitchell, whose final stat line read 10 points, team-leading eight rebounds, and four assists, and Jeff Stevens, who scored a season-high 15 points on 7-of-9 field goals.
Tallying nine points apiece in the victory were Justin Bradley, PJ McCloud, and Snyder. The trio combined to make 12-of-14 field goals.
All told, Wooster shot a season-best 62.1 percent from the field (41-of-66), including 5-of-9 threes, and outrebounded the overmatched Hiram squad 48-26.
Defensively, the Scots held the Terriers’ top scorer Carlton Dean, who had been averaging more than 22 points during his last seven games, to seven points in 32 minutes, while Hiram’s leader on Wednesday was A.J. White with 13 points on 6-of-14 shots from the floor. Dean did have a game-high 12 rebounds.
Next, the Scots will stay at home and play fourth-place Wabash College (7-9, 5-2 NCAC) this Saturday afternoon (Jan. 24) at 2 p.m.