Tigers Lose Late Lead In 69-56 Defeat At Allegheny

MEADVILLE, Pa. - The offensive struggles continued for the Wittenberg Tigers, who fell to 1-6 overall and 0-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) with a 69-56 road loss to Allegheny.

Wittenberg managed just 31.2 percent shooting from the field against Allegheny, which snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Tigers and beat Wittenberg for the first time on its home floor since 2007. The Gators improved to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in the league.

The Tigers held a 24-14 lead after a three-pointer by sophomore Jaelin Williams (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) with 7:54 left in the first half, but the Gators responded with a 12-2 burst to close the half in a 26-26 tie. The home team then took the advantage immediately in the second half, building a nine-point lead before the Tigers put together a 10-0 run to take a 52-51 edge with 5:27 remaining.

Once again, however, the end of the half was unkind to the visitors. After sophomore Shane Edwards (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) tied the game at 54-54, the Gators knocked down a pair of three-pointers to seize the late-game momentum. Allegheny went 7-for-7 on free throws over the final 24 seconds to seal the victory.

The Tigers held a 42-30 rebounding advantage in the game, led Edwards with nine and freshman Chad Roy (Toledo, Ohio/Holland Springfield) with six. Roy added 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting - he was the only Tiger player to shoot better than 50 percent in the game.

Sophomore Cody Phillippi (Xenia, Ohio/Xenia) led Wittenberg with 16 points, while Edwards added nine and Williams finished with eight.

Written By: Ryan Maurer