WOOSTER, Ohio – A lengthy scoring drought late in the first half proved costly for Allegheny, as the Gators suffered a 79-58 loss at North Coast Athletic Conference foe Wooster.
 
Trailing just 25-21 with 7:36 left in the opening frame, the Gators were held scoreless over the next six minutes, as the Fighting Scots broke it open with 13 unanswered points.   The Gator offense improved over the final 20 minutes, but the visitors were unable to pull to within single digits the rest of the way, as Wooster ran its winning streak to eight.
 
Jordan Rawls paced the Gators with 12 points, while Lamar Todd added eight, and Zack Pateras seven off the bench.  Rawls also led his team with seven rebounds, but the Gators lost the battle on the boards by a 52-37 margin, including 16 Wooster offensive rebounds that led to 22 second-chance points.
 
Wooster looked primed to pull away early, opening up a 13-4 lead just under five minutes into play.  A jumper from Nijon Kirkman stopped the Wooster run, before Rawls scored five points in a 30-second span to cut the deficit to 18-11 at the 13-minute mark. 
 
The teams traded scoreless trips over the next two minutes, before a basket in the paint from Sean Dougherty pulled the Gators to within five with 10:41 left in the half.  Three minutes later, Sean Szabo bucketed a three-pointer, and Todd sank a pair of free throws, bringing the Gators to within 25-21 with 7:36 remaining in the half.
 
The Gators would then go cold, managing just one more basket the rest of the half - a jumper from Rawls with 1:18 to go –as Wooster took a 40-24 lead into the intermission. 
 
Wooster upped its lead to 46-22 90 seconds into the second half, but Allegheny quickly regrouped.  Billy Urso and Wilby hit threes 30 seconds apart, before a jumper in the paint from Brendan O'Toole capped off an 8-0 run that closed the gap to 46-32 with 14:40 left in regulation.
 
The Fighting Scots countered with a 10-2 run to open up a 56-34 lead with 11:44 to go, but the Gators again looked to chip away, with a pair of Pateras threes sandwiching a Kirkman free throw and trimming the gap to 13, 58-45, with 8:40 remaining.
 
It was as close as Allegheny would come, however, as Wooster's Reece Dupler answered the mini Gator run by hitting threes on consecutive trips to open up a 19-point lead, 65-45, with 7:48 to go.  The Gators were unable to mount a final rally, and Wooster pulled away down the stretch for the win.
 
Dupler led the Scots on the scoresheet with 23 points, bolstered by a 4-for-5 mark from behind the arc.  Teammate Danyon Hempy added 16, while Alex Baptiste grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
The Gators will return to action on Saturday, January 13, when they welcome Ohio Wesleyan, ranked 17th in this week's D3Hoops.com Top 25, for a 3 p.m. battle in the Wise Center.