Wooster (18-1, 9-1 NCAC) was in control throughout. In fact, the Scots never trailed, as they built a double-digit lead (20-9) just over seven minutes into the contest.
Earlham (8-11, 6-4 NCAC), which entered the week on a five-game win streak and in third-place in the conference standings, temporarily cut the margin under 10. However, with the score standing at 23-16 at the midway point of the opening stanza, Wooster went on an 11-2 surge, during which the Scots scored eight points off of offensive rebounds, to make it 34-18.
The Scots eventually went into the half up 15 (41-26), and the Quakers never got any closer than 13 for the remainder of the game.
Along with its edge on the glass, Wooster received outstanding play from its backcourt, paced by Kyle Witucky, who scored a season-high 19 points on 7-of-10 field goals, including 3-of-4 3-pointers, and dished out a game-high five assists while committing just one turnover. That completes a 36-point week for Witucky, as the junior point guard scored 17 first-half points in a rout of Allegheny College on Wednesday.
Tom Port made 6-of-12 from the floor en route to a 16-point effort, while James Cooper provided an early spark off the bench and ended up with 11 in the scoring column, to go with five rebounds and three assists without a turnover.
Also for the Scots, Tim Vandervaart posted the second double-double of his career with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, and Matt Schlingman contributed 12 points and four blocked shots.
Second in rebounding for Wooster was Evan Will with six. He also may have made the play of the game, knocking the ball away from the man he was guarding, diving on the floor for the steal, and passing it from the ground up to Cooper for an easy fast break.
Despite playing with four fouls for most of the second half, Earlham’s Brandon Miller exceeded his season average (17.2 ppg) with 22 points. LaRon Henry added 16 tallies in the losing effort.
Statistically, the Scots were shooting exactly 60 percent from the field before misfiring on their final four attempts to complete the game at a rate of .559 (33-of-59). They hit 9-of-15 from beyond the arc, and defensively, limited the Quakers to less than 40 percent (.382) field-goal shooting.
Next, Wooster takes its four-game winning streak to Kenyon College (3-16, 2-8 NCAC) on Wednesday night. Tip-off at Tomsich Arena is set for 7:30 p.m.