MEADVILLE, Pa. – Visiting Wooster held off a second half Allegheny charge to defeat the Gators 72-59 in North Coast Athletic Conference action in the David V. Wise Center.
 
Trailing by 12 points at halftime, the Gators cut the deficit to five with just over four minutes left in regulation.  The Fighting Scots were able to hold off the charge, however, as they scored the game's final eight points – including four free throws over the final minute – to win their seventh straight.
 
"I am very proud of the guys' effort tonight, from start to finish," said Allegheny head coach Bob Simmons.  "We came up just short against a very good and very well-coached team.  I'm seeing a lot of positives from this group, and they're going to keep battling."
 
Jordan Rawls paced Allegheny with 20 points and four assists, while Billy Urso added 15 points on the strength of five triples.  Liam Wilby chipped in with nine points, while center Zach Shedd had a solid night under the bucket, scoring six points with seven rebounds and four blocked shots. 
 
Allegheny was cold out of the gates, misfiring on their first six field goal attempts of the evening as Wooster built an 11-0 lead just three minutes into play.
 
Following a 30-second time out, the Gators would regroup with a 9-4 run, which included a long three from Wilby and a bucket in the paint from Rawls, to trim the gap to 15-9 at the 14-minute mark.
 
The Wooster lead would remain between six and eight points over the next several minutes, before the Fighting Scots used a 15-7 run over a four-minute span to take their largest lead of the half, 33-18, with 6:58 left in the half.
 
Urso halted the momentum with a long three-pointer to make it 33-22 at the 4:30 mark, before the teams would trade baskets into the break, with Wooster holding a 40-28 halftime lead.
 
Rawls scored 12 of Allegheny's 28 first half points, while Shedd was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field for six first half points.  Neither team shot extraordinarily well over the opening 20 minutes, with Wooster shooting 45 percent and Allegheny 42, but the Fighting Scots had five more field goals and nine more attempts thanks to five offensive rebounds and 10 Gator turnovers.
 
The Gators quickly seized the momentum following the intermission, as Urso hit three-pointers on Allegheny's first two trips of the second half to quickly cut the deficit to 40-34.  The Fighting Scots used a mini run to regain a nine-point lead, 47-38, with 15:28 to play, but Allegheny answered right back, as a jumper from Rawls and a pair of free throws from Brendan O'Toole quickly trimmed the gap to five.
 
After the two O'Toole freebies, the Fighting Scots broke off a 13-5 run over a four-minute span to push their lead back up to 60-47 with inside nine minutes remaining, but the Gators would again gradually chip away at the deficit.
 
Urso halted the Wooster run with his fourth trey of the night, before a fast break layup from Wilby pulled the hosts back to within single digits, 60-52, at the 7:30 mark.  Fifty seconds later, O'Toole sank two more from the stripe, before he connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key to bring the Gators to within five, 62-57, with 5:18 remaining.
 
The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes, with Wooster holding a 66-59 advantage and the ball with 1:30 left.  Bleeding the shot clock into single digits, the Fighting Scots would eventually miss a layup hard off the glass as the buzzer sounded.  The officials signaled for a reset, however, and the visitors took advantage to score 12 seconds later and increase their advantage to 68-59 with 1:18 left. 
 
As the clock wound under a minute, the Gators were then forced to foul, and Wooster would score the game's final four points from the foul line to pull away for the win.
 
Wooster saw four players score in double digits, led by 15 points from Danyon Hempy, and 14 apiece from Spencer Williams and Reece Dupler.  The Fighting Scots, who ended with a 45-32 rebounding advantage, were led on the glass by Eric Bulic's 16 boards, including 10 offensive.
 
The Gators will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 10, traveling to Granville, Ohio to take on Denison at 3 p.m.