2002-03 News
It was another outstanding season for the Wittenberg University Tiger men's basketball team. Wittenberg finished 20-6 overall and 14-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, good for second place.
A banner winter sports season has reaped tangible rewards for 25 Wittenberg University athletes and two coaches who earned All-North Coast Athletic Conference awards. Announcements for men's and women's basketball came in separate releases from the NCAC office last week.
Wooster senior forward Bryan Nelson (Kettering, OH/Fairmont) has been named Player of the Year to highlight the 2003 All-North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball squad, announced today after voting by the conference's head coaches.
The Tiger men's basketball team went into the NCAC tournament with a head of steam, having won six straight games, including a defeat of nationally ranked eventual regular season champion Wooster on Feb. 15.
In breaking down the Allegheny/Wittenberg North Coast Athletic Conference tournament semifinal boxscore, it is evident that statistics do lie. The Wittenberg Tigers dominated the rebounding category 40-26, made 10 more shots while shooting 52 percent from the field (compared to 38 percent for Allegheny) and also hit 80 percent of their free throw attempts. The difference in a 73-72 Allegheny upset was three-point shooting as the Gators hit an NCAC tournament record 13 from beyond the arc and free throw shooting as the Gators made 18-of-21, including six straight in the final 2:51 of the game.
The Wittenberg men's basketball team did it the hard way, but when the dust had settled on last week's exciting NCAC action, the Tigers had claimed a 14-2 regular season conference record and a 19-5 overall mark for the 2002-03 campaign.
Beating an opponent three times in a season is never easy. That was the task that stood before the Wittenberg Tigers and, for the second time in four nights, the Tigers were up to the task as they dispatched the visiting Denison Big Red 80-74 in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals.
The Wittenberg Tigers finished off the 2002-03 regular season with a full head of steam, defeating the visiting Denison Big Red 75-51 to clinch second place in the upcoming North Coast Athletic Conference tournament. The win improved Wittenberg to 19-5 overall and 14-2 in the NCAC, while Denison, which will make a return trip to Springfield on Tuesday for the first round of the conference tourney, fell to 9-16 overall and 7-9 in the NCAC.
It was a game the Wittenberg Tigers, trailing the College of Wooster by one game in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings with two to play, had to have. After a fast start, the Tigers had to fend off a determined challenge from host Wabash to escape with a thrilling 95-86 overtime victory.
The Wittenberg University men's basketball team sent a few messages last week. The first was that the Tigers are very much alive and kicking at the right time of the season as they walloped Earlham 82-39 on Wednesday in what was expected to be a difficult road test. Then on Saturday, the Tigers let the league-leading College of Wooster Fighting Scots know that they were still a factor in the NCAC regular season race with a 61-55 win at home.
It is always hard-fought. It is always intense. It is almost always close. It's Wittenberg vs. Wooster men's basketball, and on this night, in an outstanding defensive struggle that typically went right down to the wire, the Tigers picked up the victory 61-55.
The Wittenberg Tigers played one of their finest games of the year Wednesday night at Earlham, crushing the third-place Quakers by a stunning 82-39 margin. The win improved Wittenberg to 16-5 overall and 11-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference heading into Saturday pivotal showdown at home against sixth-ranked and conference-leading Wooster.
The Tiger men's basketball team won't be mislabeled "Houdini-esque", but last week Wittenberg had to make a couple of escapes to remain alive in the hunt for an NCAC regular season championship.
The Wittenberg Tigers did what they had to do against a scrappy, undermanned, but determined host Hiram Terriers squad - they survived. The Tigers outlasted Hiram, which rallied from a 26-point deficit a week earlier to upset Ohio Wesleyan in the same gym, by a final of 78-62, but only after fending off a 16-0 Terrier run that sliced the lead down to five points midway through the second half.
The Wittenberg Tigers didn't play their best, but they played well enough down the stretch to pull out a crucial home game against the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops and claim a 68-58 victory on Wednesday night at the HPER Center before a crowd of 645 fans. The win improved the Tigers to 14-5 overall and 9-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, keeping them within striking distance of first-place Wooster.
The road can be a treacherous place for a North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball contender. That was proven true again last week as the Tiger men's basketball team lost its second straight conference road game.