Box Score Dimonde Hale scored a season-high 25 points and Larry Farmer added 16 but it wasn't enough to stop No. 14 Wooster as the Fighting Scots left Livingston Gymnasium with an 89-70 win over Denison on Wednesday night.
Denison trailed by nine at halftime but quickly trimmed the deficit to one by coming out of the locker room on a 10-2 run with all 10 points coming from Hale and Farmer.
The two teams would go back and forth for the next four minutes, and Denison would once again cut the lead to one when Hale scored in the paint, moving the score to 49-48 in favor of Wooster.
The Fighting Scots would make its move with just less than 13 minutes to play by securing a pair of offensive rebounds followed by a Ryan Snyder stick-back in the paint. That shot by Snyder would spark a 9-0 Wooster run over the next 1:40, giving the Scots their largest lead since early in the first half.
Over the next five minutes of play the Big Red struggled on the offensive end, scoring only five points while Wooster went into overdrive, scoring on five-straight possessions. They more than doubled their lead to 77-58 with 5:35 to play and that all but ended Denison's upset bid over the 14th ranked team in the nation.
Five players scored in double figures for Wooster, led by Jake Mays' 16 points and 6 rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Xavier Brown added 15 points in 28 minutes and Josh Claytor scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
Hale was 11-of-16 from the field but just 3-of-7 from the free throw line resulting in 25 points. He also led all players with nine rebounds in 34 minutes of action. Farmer finished 6-for-10 from the field and also contributed eight rebounds.
DU outrebounded Wooster 36-34 but the Fighting Scot bench outscored Denison's 39-19. Wooster improves to 17-3 overall and 8-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference while DU falls to 8-12 and 5-6 in conference play.
Denison will look to rebound on Saturday when they host Hiram College at 3 p.m. It is Senior Day and the annual alumni game will be played prior to the varsity game.
