Tigers Fall In Kiwanis Classic Championship Game

The Wittenberg University Tigers usually find ways to win games like this, especially in the Kiwanis-Wittenberg Tip-Off (previously Holiday) Classic. But against a determined Ohio Dominican University team that shot the ball extremely well, the Tigers couldn't pull out a victory Saturday night, falling 80-75 in the 2002 championship game.

Ohio Dominican jumped out to an early lead and held onto it almost the entire game. In fact, ODU never trailed, although Wittenberg pulled even on a couple of occasions in the second half. Ohio Dominican put all five starters in double figures, led by Mike Lee with 18 points. He got 12 of those 18 at the free throw line. Jeremy Renner added 17 points, Mike Fiebig had 16, Micah Stith finished with 13 and Eric Jenkins rounded things out with 10. Stith also added a game-high 11 rebounds.

Wittenberg, which lost in its home tournament for just the third time in 20 years, got 21 points from senior forward B.J. Harris and 18 more from sophomore wing Andy Bucheit. But the Tigers couldn't overcome 54.5 percent shooting from the field and 81.8 percent shooting from the free throw line by the Panthers, who improved to 4-1 overall on the brand new season. Wittenberg also got strong performances from junior forward Peter Walker, who had nine points and four rebounds, and freshman forward Daniel Russ, who had nine points and six boards in 20 productive minutes off the bench.