Wittenberg rallies for crucial win over visiting Ohio Wesleyan

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - 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.

Wittenberg moved out in front early, only to have OWU go on a 6-2 run to close the first half and take a 30-27 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Bishops came out firing in the second, eventually stretching that lead out to 51-43 with 10:25 remaining in the game on a three-pointer by Brandon Cole, the team's fifth trey in a span of just eight minutes. After a timeout a minute later, Wittenberg stormed back, eventually pulling ahead at 55-53 on a clutch three-pointer by sophomore guardKenny Molz (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) with 5:42 remaining. The Tigers outscored OWU 13-5 the rest of the way to pull out the victory.

For the game, Wittenberg shot just 41 percent from the field, including a paltry 28 percent from three-point range (5-for-18). The Tigers did reverse an important recent trend, committing just seven turnovers in the game, and Wittenberg also won the all-important rebounding battle, 43-30.

The Tigers were led offensively by junior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier), who topped the team in points for a third straight game with 17. Senior center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins) added 14 points and nine rebounds, just missing his fourth double-double of the year. Senior forward Kevin Longley (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) chipped in with nine points and 11 rebounds, giving him 947 points in his career and moving him into the top 10 in school history in rebounds.

Next up for Wittenberg is a road challenge at Hiram on Saturday at 6 p.m.