Wittenberg Narrowly Escapes Wabash Rally as Rod Emmons Pours in 38 Points
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.
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - 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 win kept Wittenberg alive in the race, although just barely after the Scots claimed a 13-points win at Ohio Wesleyan tonight. Coming off two huge wins last week, a road victory by 43 points at Earlham and a six-point home upset of No. 5 Wooster, the Tigers came out strong behind the shooting of junior guard Rod Emmons (South Bend, Ind./John Adams). Emmons scored 17 of Wittenberg's first 22 points and had 20 tallies by the halftime intermission. During the first 20 minutes of action, Wittenberg moved out to a lead as large as 20 points before Wabash rallied to cut it to 44-33 by halftime.
In the second half, Wittenberg fended off every Little Giant challenge but one. Clinging to an 80-77 lead with eight seconds left, the Tigers attempted to foul Wabash on the drive upcourt, but no infraction was whistled and Wabash senior guard Matt Storm found a glimmer of daylight and buried his second three in the final 12 seconds of regulation with just three seconds left. Storm scored the final eight points of regulation for the Little Giants to almost single-handedly will the team back into the game.
In the overtime, with Wabash's two leading scorers on the bench after fouling out in regulation, Wittenberg finally pulled away. Senior forward Kevin Longley (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler), the current NCAC Player of the Week, got things started with a conventional three-point play and fellow senior co-captain, center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins) closed things out with four straight free throws in the final 33 seconds.
The win improved Wittenberg to 18-5 overall and 13-2 in the NCAC, while Wabash dropped to 14-9 overall and 8-7 in the league. Emmons finished with a career-high 38 points, a mere 17 more than his previous best total of 21 set in last year's NCAA Division III tournament loss at DePauw. Junior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) added 13 points and seven rebounds. Harris finished with nine points and eight boards, while Longley added nine points and seven caroms.
As a team, Wabash outrebounded the Tigers 42-41 and neither team was particularly careless with the basketball, as Wittenberg finished with 15 turnovers to the Little Giants' 12. Both teams made 27 shots from the field, but the difference was that Wittenberg made 13 from beyond the three-point arc (including eight from Emmons alone) and the Tigers added 28 made free throws to 22 for the Little Giants.
Wabash was led by Storm's 21 points and double-double efforts from forward Joe DesJean, last year's NCAC Player of the Year, and center Eric Buck with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 13 points, 10 rebounds respectively. Chris Waters also came off the bench to chip in with 13 tallies.
Wittenberg ends the 2002-03 regular season Saturday at home on Senior Recognition Night at the HPER Center against Denison at 7:30 p.m.