The Wittenberg University men's basketball team is off to its customary outstanding start, with its only two defeats coming to No. 4-ranked Wheaton College on Nov. 17 and No. 19-ranked Otterbein College on Jan. 2. The Tigers, the defending North Coast Athletic Conference regular season champion and owners of a phenomenal streak of 45 straight non-losing seasons, stand atop the NCAC once again with a perfect 6-0 record and are ranked 17th in the nation with an overall record of 13-2.
After a three-game stretch against some of weakest teams in the NCAC, the Tigers now face a much more challenging schedule to close out the regular season. Next up is a home game against Ohio Wesleyan, which is alone in third place in the NCAC with a 5-1 mark, on Wednesday.
Last week, the Tigers defeated Kenyon at home on Wednesday and Hiramon the road on Saturday. They started out the week by jumping out to a big early lead and putting it on cruise control by halftime in dispatching Kenyon, 86-53 at the HPER Center in Springfield. The Tigers were never threatened after falling behind early 2-0 and then going on a 9-point run. Wittenberg played 16 players in the game, 12 of whom scored at least two points. The Tigers shot 48 percent to Kenyon's 34 and enjoyed one of their best nights of the season from the free throw line - 23-of-32 for 71.9 percent.
The Tiger offense showed off its usual balance, led by junior center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins), who topped all scorers with 16 points. Senior forward Chad Mossing (Maumee, Ohio/Holland Springfield) chipped in with 15 points, including 5-of-9 on three-pointers, and junior forward Kevin Longley (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) contributed 14 points and eight rebounds. In addition, sophomore guard Mark Borland (Kettering, Ohio/Alter) had six assists, senior guard Greg Rustad (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood)had five assists and freshman guard Danny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont)had five helpers.
Then on Saturday, Wittenberg destroyed Hiram College right out of the locker room for a 91-51 victory. The Tigers claimed an early lead and then put the game out of reach with a 26-point run, stretching a 7-4 lead to 33-4 with a little more than six minutes remaining in the first half. For the game, the Tigers shot better than 50 percent from the floor and better than 70 percent from the free throw line, and they did their usual work on the boards, outrebounding the Terriers 46-24.
As usual, the Tiger offense was deep and balanced as five players finished in double figures in scoring. B.J. Harris showed the way with 17 points and eight rebounds, Kevin Longley finished with 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting and seven rebounds, freshman forward Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) chipped in with 12 points and four boards, Chad Mossing wound up with 11 points and a season-high five rebounds, and Mark Borland added 10 points.