GAMBIER, Ohio – Trailing by as many as 27 points in Wednesday's North Coast Athletic Conference basketball game, the Kenyon College Lords put together a furious second-half rally that knotted them up with the No. 20-ranked Fighting Scots from The College of Wooster. The comeback was thwarted, however, when Xavier Brown scored with 31 seconds left to help the visiting Scots escape with a 93-91 win.

After Wooster (16-4, 10-3 NCAC) drained 7-of-10 three-point attempts and put together a 26-4 run in the first half, the Lords found themselves on the bad side of a 48-29 halftime score. When the second half commenced, Wooster kept pouring it on and built a 27-point cushion (70-43) with just 13:35 remaining in the game.

Down, but not out, Kenyon (6-14, 4-9 NCAC) began its own impressive run and got it started with a three-point play from freshman Phillip Crampton. Senior Cooper Handelsman followed with a three-pointer and junior Tim Connolly tacked on three consecutive free throws. At the 9:31 mark, John Bray's layup trimmed the Lords' deficit to 20 points (80-60).

Over the next four minutes, the Lords cut further into the Scots' lead. Freshman Alexander Powell and Handelsman steered the Kenyon men within nine points. Powell later tacked on a three-pointer that made the score 85-78 at the 5:01 mark.

Bray then took his turn at hacking into the Wooster lead. He scored the Lords' next six points. Handelsman followed up with a jumper at 2:32 and Powell converted another long ball to make the score 91-89 in favor of the Scots.

After a Wooster turnover, Kenyon got the ball to sophomore Chris Link, who finished off a layup that tied the game, 91-91, with 1:29 to play. Both teams misfired on their next possessions and then Brown hit a jumper from the top of the lane that proved to be the game-winner.

Kenyon had an opportunity to tie or win the game with a last shot, but that missed its mark as well.

Handelsman wound up leading the Lords with 19 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. Bray added 18 points and six boards, while Powell finished 4-of-6 from behind the arc and scored 16 points. Connolly added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Lords, who had their best shooting game of the season, going 38-of-65 overall (58.5 percent) and 7-of-14  (50.0 percent) from three-point territory.

The Scots were just as hot, shooting 35-of-60 overall (58.3 percent) and 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) from long range. Wooster had five players hit double-digit scoring marks and was led by 23 points from Evan Pannell. Brown finished with 14 and Dan Fanelly contributed 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.