Wooster Downs Aurora 96-90 in Offensive Shootout

Nate Gaubatz finished with 16 points and a career-high eight assists against Aurora.

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's basketball team, ranked No. 3 in the D3hoops.com preseason Division III poll, opened the season with a hard-fought 96-90 victory over Aurora (Ill.) in the opening round of the Al Van Wie Rotary Classic at Timken Gymnasium.

With the win, the Scots extended their home-winning streak to 34 games – the second longest streak in Division III and the third longest in the nation.

Wooster picked up Friday where it left off last season offensively. In its final five home games of the 1999-2000 season, the Scots averaged 99.6 points per game and topped the 100-mark point mark on three occasions.

In the first half, the story was the three-point shooting of the Spartans. They built a 46-43 behind the shooting of Kory McFarland, who was 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. As a team, Aurora was 8-of-15 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, the Scots tied the game four minutes into the period and held the lead for most of the first 14 minutes, but two free throws by Dan DeBruycke with 6:36 left tied the game at 76-76. Wooster responded with a three-pointer by sophomore Matt Smith (Elida, Ohio / Elida) and a layup by sophomore Bryan Nelson (Kettering, Ohio / Fairmont) to take the lead for good. After the Spartans tied the game for the final time, the Scots went on a 17-6 run to take its largest lead of the game (93-82) with 2:03 to play.

Wooster shot well as a team, hitting 51 percent (36-of-70) of its shots from the floor and 40 percent (8-of-20) of its three-point attempts. All five starters scored in double figures, led by junior Antwyan Reynolds (Mansfield, Ohio / Mansfield Senior), who finished with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Smith added 18 points, including five three-pointers, while Nelson compiled a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. It marked Nelson's 11^th career double-double in just 30 games.

Senior Nate Gaubatz (Wooster, Ohio / Northwestern) scored 16 points and dished out a career-high eight assists, while junior Brian Carlisle (Dayton, Ohio / Oakwood) had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Leading the way for Aurora were McFarland and Brent Gooden, who each had 20 points. After hitting eight three pointers in the first half, the Spartans were only 4-of-11 in the second half.

Wooster will now face Savannah College of Art & Design in the championship game at 6 p.m. on Saturday, while Aurora will play Marymount in the consolation game at 4 p.m. Savannah College of Art & Design reached the title game by defeating Marymount 87-70 in the other first round game.