Schlingman scored a season-high 19 points on 7-of-11 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws, and grabbed 10 rebounds for the second double-double of his career. His first came as a sophomore against Oberlin College on Jan. 8, 2003 (17 points, 10 rebounds).
Vandervaart finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and 3-of-4 at the charity stripe, while his rebound total was 16 – the most by a Wooster player since All-American Bryan Nelson collected 16 as a freshman on Feb. 5, 2000, against Wabash College. It marked Vandervaart’s second consecutive double-double, and his third this season.
While the two big men took team scoring and rebounding honors, Devin Fulk may have hit the shot of the game, as the reserve guard knocked down a 3-pointer, which ended a 5-0 run that had brought Kenyon within single-digits (57-48) with just under eight minutes remaining in regulation.
Fulk’s shot kickstarted a Scot 13-2 run that closed the game.
The host Lords (3-17, 2-9 NCAC) hung close with Wooster (19-1, 10-1 NCAC) most of the way. Kenyon held three early leads (5-3, 7-5, 9-8) before the Scots opened things up with a 15-5 run, which included the 100th 3-pointer of Blake Mealer’s career, to make it 23-14.
Wooster had a 33-26 halftime lead, which the Lords cut into early in the second. Matt Formato canned one of his three 3-pointers to begin the half and Kenyon stayed within single-digits for most of the first five minutes.
The Scots maintained a 10-to-15-point lead during the next five minutes, but could not pull away until Fulk’s aforementioned shot.
Joining Schlingman and Vandervaart in double figures was Kyle Witucky, who had 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Formato matched his season average with 18 points, but he was the lone Lord in double figures.
Despite the unexpected close game, Wooster shot the ball well, hitting 37-of-53 field goals (.509) to Kenyon’s rate of .346 (18-of-52). The Scots also finished +23 in the rebounding department (43-20), but were slowed by 11 turnovers, including eight in the first half.
Next, Wooster will seek its 20th win for the ninth-straight season on Saturday afternoon, when it hosts Wabash College (10-10, 7-4 NCAC) at 2 p.m.