Wittenberg recorded a pair of wins to maintain its share of first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference last week. The Tigers defeated visiting Earlham, 81-65, on Wednesday, Jan. 31 and then struggled before scoring an 85-81 win in overtime at Hiram on Saturday, Feb. 3.
Wittenberg remains tied for first in the NCAC with Wooster and assuming neither team slips in its next three games, appears headed for a showdown in the regular season finale Feb. 17 in the Scots' home gymnasium. It is possible that that game will decide the No. 1 seed and home court advantage for the NCAC Tournament, which starts Feb. 20.
This week, the Tigers will host Wabash on Wednesday and Allegheny on Saturday in their final two regular season home games. The Little Giants promise to provide stiff competition as one of several teams in hot pursuit of the NCAC leaders, while the Gators come in as Wittenberg's 2001 Senior Day opponent. On that occasion, the Tigers will honor four seniors who have compiled a stellar 73-24 career record -Kyle Krauss (Deshler, Ohio/Patrick Henry), Ryan Taylor (Waynesfield, Ohio/Goshen), Chris Fillmore (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) and Alex Welp (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville).
In the win over Earlham, the Tigers shot 54.2 percent from the field for the game but paid a heavy price for the victory. Senior point guard Kyle Krauss (Deshler, Ohio/Patrick Henry) suffered a broken right hand five minutes into the game and is out indefinitely.
Krauss' backup, freshman Mark Borland (Ketttering, Ohio/Alter), stepped in and scored a game-high 20 points in just 17 minutes. He also had six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Senior center Chris Fillmore (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) added 16 points, sophomore backup center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins) added 14 and sophomore forward Kevin Longley (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) had 11 points for Wittenberg.
Hiram was a team that had lost seven of its last eight games, but that wasn't the team that greeted Wittenberg on Saturday. The Tigers first lead of the game came at 42-40 on a pair of Borland free throws with one second left in the first half.
Wittenberg charged back from a five-point deficit with four minutes left in regulation, only to blow a five-point lead with 11 seconds left, sending the game into overtime tied at 76. But junior guard Chad Mossing (Maumee, Ohio/Springfield) hit a three-point goal with 239 left in overtime to put the Tigers up for good.
Mossing, who had just two field goals in the previous four games, drilled six three-point goals and scored a team- and season-high 18 points to lead Wittenberg. Senior forward Ryan Taylor (Waynesfield, Ohio/Goshen) scored 17 points, i ncluding 14 in the second half. Junior guard Greg Rustad (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood) scored 13 points and contributed some valuable minutes at point guard in the second half.
The Tigers, who have now won nine straight games and are undefeated at home this season, were again ranked second in last week's NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional rankings. In the most recent Division III national statistics (through Jan. 28), Wittenberg was ranked first in rebound margin, second in scoring margin (behind Wooster), fifth in field goal percentage defense and 19th in three-point goal percentage. Individually, Taylor was fourth in three-point field goal percentage.