Roundup: Tigers Lose Conference Road Game
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.
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.
The loss at Allegheny on Saturday came on the heels of what was possibly Wittenberg's finest game of the season, a suprisingly easy 82-46 defeat of visiting Earlham on Wednesday. It left Wittenberg at 13-5 overall, but more importantly the Tigers are 8-2 in the NCAC and two games behind sixth-ranked Wooster in the standings. With several difficult games remaining on the schedule, Wittenberg cannot afford another loss if it wants to complete the rare regular season three-peat and host the NCAC tournament for a third consecutive season.
The game against Earlham was never a contest as Wittenberg sprinted out to a 15-3 lead in the first five minutes of the game. By halftime, the Tigers owned a commanding 40-22 advantage, and that lead only grew in the final 20 minutes. All 14 players in uniform for the Tigers saw at least three minutes of action, and 11 of them scored at least two points.
Four Tiger players finished in double figures in scoring in the game. Junior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) led all scorers with 13 points off the bench on 6-of-6 shooting from the field. Sophomore guard Brett Bowen (Arcadia, Ind./Hamilton Heights) poured in a career-high 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including three straight first-half three-pointers. And three starters wound up with 10 points, sophomore forward Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle), senior forward Kevin Longley (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) and senior center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins).
For Harris, those 10 points were extra meaningful as he went over the 1,000-point plateau for his career. He became the 25th player in Wittenberg history to score more than 1,000 points in his career and the first since Ryan Taylor crossed the threshold in the 2000-01 season. As a team, Wittenberg won the rebounding battle 37-22 and made 30 of its 53 attempts from the field, good for a 56.6 shooting percentage. In addition, the Tigers hit 56 percent from three-point range and 93 percent (13-of-14) from the free throw line.
But after playing so well against Earlham on Wednesday, the Tigers couldn't find the same form on the road on Saturday at Allegheny. The Gators may be in the middle of the conference pack in 2002-03 but they are clearly a team on the rise, and they broke through for their biggest win of the year 66-63 over Wittenberg.
Allegheny hurt Wittenberg forced 20 Tiger turnovers, a key statistic in a game in which the visitors dominated the rebounding category 46-30, including 20 Wittenberg offensive rebounds. Wittenberg led by as much as seven points twice in the first half, but the Gators went on a 17-9 run over the final 10 minutes to take a 28-27 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the second half, Allegheny came out firing and pulled out to a 54-42 lead at the 8:09 mark before the Tigers made a late charge to pull within three points on four occasions in the final two minutes. For the game, the Tigers were sure on just 37 percent of their attempts from the field, including a 9-of-27 performance from beyond the three-point arc, and managed just 4-of-9 from the free throw line.
Walker had his biggest game in months with 22 points, including four 3-pointers and a 9-for-12 performance from the field. Harris had his third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds, sophomore guard Danny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) chipped in with 10 points and freshman center Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds.
The Tigers don't have time to feel sorry for themselves, however. Next up is a home date on Wednesday against Ohio Wesleyan, one of the other preseason conference favorites, and a road game on Saturday against Hiram, which upset the Bishops last week.