Scots Open Defense of NCAC Title With 84-67 Win at Denison

Rodney Mitchell scored a career-high 22 points to lead Wooster past Denison 84-67.

Rodney Mitchell (Elida, Ohio / Elida) snapped out of a mini-scoring slump on Wednesday night, as the senior guard tied a career-high with 22 points on 9-of-15 field goals to lead The College of Wooster past host Denison University 84-67 in the first North Coast Athletic Conference men’s basketball game of 2003-04.

Wooster (4-1, 1-0 NCAC), the defending NCAC champions, never trailed, using an early 11-2 run, which included five points from Mitchell, to take control of the game at 23-9 just past the midway point of the opening half.

The Scots kept the lead in double-digits and went into the break up by a seemingly comfortable score of 41-25, however, Denison (1-5, 0-1 NCAC) charged out of the second half by outplaying Wooster to a tune of 14-7 over the opening 6:17 and cutting the Scots’ advantage to seven.

Wooster responded, though, with back-to-back buckets and two free throws to push its lead out to double figures again, and it stayed there the rest of the way.

Mitchell, who was the Scots’ top returning scorer at 10.1 points per game, had tossed in a total of just 23 points through the first four games, but found his shooting touch on Wednesday, which included hitting 3-of-8 three-pointers. He also dished out a game-high five assists against just one turnover.

Wooster’s only other double-digit producer was junior forward Blake Mealer (Wauseon, Ohio / Liberty Benton) with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor, as the Scots showed balance with 10 different players getting into the scorebook.

As a team, Wooster connected on 60 percent of its field-goal attempts in the second half (18-of-30), and finished at a rate of 56.9 (33-of-58), while holding the Big Red under 50 percent (23-of-48). The Scots also owned a 33-25 edge in rebounding, and only turned it over eight times during the game.

Denison was paced by the play of freshman post Danny Hodgkinson, who matched Mitchell’s output, with his 22 points coming on 8-of-10 shots from the floor, but just 6-of-12 from the free throw line. Also with a big night for the Big Red was Chris Hull, who canned 4-of-5 from the arc en route to 18 points.

This Saturday, Wooster will host Ohio Wesleyan University (3-2) in what could be a pivotal game, as both were picked to finish among the top-three in the NCAC this year. Opening tip at the Scots’ 3,400-seat Timken Gymnasium is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.