Wittenberg falls on the road to hot-shooting Ohio Northern

ADA, Ohio - Coming off a big win over the defending national champion Otterbein Cardinals 12 days previous, perhaps the Wittenberg University Tigers were due for a letdown. A more plausible explanation, however, is that Ohio Northern reached up and grabbed the 82-62 victory after a difficult start to the 2002-03 season.

ONU made it look suprisingly easy, breaking open a nip-and-tuck game midway through the first half and breezing to the 20-point win. The Polar Bears turned an 8-7 Wittenberg lead with 16:21 remaining in the first half into a 16-8 advantage just three minutes later, and from that point Ohio Northern never looked back and may have turned an important corner in the still-young campaign. The Polar Bears shot 55 percent from the field in the first half and 51 percent for the game, including an outstanding 9-of-21 from behind the three-point arc. In addition, ONU, which matched Wittenberg in the rebounding category 33-33, made 19-of-25 shots from the free throw line.

In contrast, the Tigers managed just 7-of-18 from the charity stripe, an important distinction in a game that got away before halftime and was never close in the final 20 minutes. Wittenberg shot fairly well from the field, making 46 percent of its shots, including 28 percent from three-point land, but the Tigers couldn't come up with the big shots at the big moments to stem the momentum of a veteran team finally getting healthy and playing well at home.

Sophomore guard Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) hit for 16 points for the Tigers off the bench, including another blistering performance from three-point range (4-of-5). Senior center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins) added 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Tigers, now 5-3 on the season, have a week off to re-group before heading to Cleveland to take on Case Western Reserve University on Dec. 30. Their next home game is Jan. 4 against Oberlin at 3 p.m. Ohio Northern is now 3-6 overall.