Wittenberg Puts Together Big Second Half To Defeat Denison in NCAC Tournament
In two meetings in the 2003-04 regular season, the Wittenberg men's basketball team had two very different experiences while the Denison Big Red provided the opposition. On Tuesday in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals, the Tigers saw a little of both sides of the Big Red - the one that lost 74-29 in Springfield in early January and the one that battled Wittenberg tooth and nail before falling 67-56 in Granville in early February - before putting Denison away, 71-46.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - In two meetings in the 2003-04 regular season, the Wittenberg men's basketball team had two very different experiences while the Denison Big Red provided the opposition. On Tuesday in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals, the Tigers saw a little of both sides of the Big Red - the one that lost 74-29 in Springfield in early January and the one that battled Wittenberg tooth and nail before falling 67-56 in Granville in early February - before putting Denison away, 71-46.
The win was Wittenberg's 19th in a row and it improved the fifth-ranked and top-seeded Tigers to 23-3 overall. Wittenberg, which went 16-0 in the conference's regular season race, will host the NCAC Tournament semifinals and finals for the third time in the last four years, beginning Thursday with a match-up opposite fourth-seeded Wabash at 7:45 p.m. in the HPER Center. Second-seeded and sixth-ranked Wooster opens up semifinal play against third-seeded Ohio Wesleyan at 5:30 p.m., also in the HPER Center. The championship game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip-off - at Wittenberg, regardless of Thursday's outcomes.
Against Denison, the Tigers started off strong, but the scrappy Big Red showed a lot of mettle, taking the Tigers' shot and responding with some solid shooting, especially from beyond the three-point line. Aftter Wittenberg pulled out to an 11-2 lead to start the game, Denison battled back and pulled to within 36-29 by halftime. The Big Red opened the second half with a Chris Hull basket to get within five points, but the Tigers scored the next seven points, holding Denison scoreless for more than five minutes. The Tigers put together another 9-0 run midway through the half to effectively seal the deal, opening up a 20-point lead that eventually stretched to 25 on a dunk by freshman forward Jack Hemenway (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) with five seconds remaining.
Wittenberg played 14 players in the game, and 12 of them scored at least one point. Leading the charge was sophomore forward Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading), who had another outstanding all-around game with 16 points and seven rebounds. He shot 8-of-9 from the floor in the game, the 19th straight he has started (coinciding with Wittenberg's winning streak). Junior guard Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) came off the bench to score 11 points and dish out seven assists and senior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) chipped in with 10 points and four rebounds.
Denison, the tourney's eighth seed, picked up 14 points and eight rebounds from Danny Hodgkinson and 11 points from Tony Julian in the defeat. The Big Red, which have now lost 53 of the last 54 meetings with the Tigers, ended their season at 6-20 overall.