Head Coach Bill Brown
With one week left in the 2001-02 regular season, the Wittenberg Tiger men's basketball team is sitting in the catbird's seat - alone in first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference, ranked among the nation's Top 25 and among the region's Top 5 and in firm control of its own destiny. The Tigers head into a week that includes a home game against Earlham on Wednesday and a road game on Saturday against archrival Wooster one game ahead of the Scots, who were surprised on their home court by third-place Wabash on last Saturday.
Last week was a good one for the Tigers, but also a bit scary. Things started off well enough as Wittenberg took an early lead at Ohio Wesleyan last Wednesday, only to have the Bishops battle back to take a lead into the locker room. The second half was almost the same script as the visiting Tigers jumped out to a double-digit advantage, only to have OWU tie the game at 64-64. That's when sophomore guard Mark Borland (Kettering,Ohio/Archbishop Alter) stepped up big-time, draining what turned out to be a game-winning three-pointer with 30 seconds remaining. From there the Tigers held on for a hard fought victory over the Bishops 67-64, avenging a 94-83 loss at Ohio Wesylean in last year's NCAC opener.
Borland led all scorers as he poured in 17 points, his best offensive output of the season. He was joined in double figures by senior guard Greg Rustad (Lakewood, Ohio/ Lakewood) with 14 points. Junior center B.J. Harris (Dayton, Ohio/ Stebbins) had an off night offensively with only four points, eight below his team-leading average, but he grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Tigers rounded out the week by dominating Hiram 103-60 win on Senior Night at the HPER Center before 1120 noisy fans, in the process breaking the school record for three-pointers in a game with 20 and handing Head Coach Bill Brown his 200th career victory.
The Tigers sprinted out to a 55-23 halftime lead and coasted from that point. All 14 players who saw action in the game scored at least two points and five players hit for double figures. Sophomore guard Rod Emmons (South Bend, Ind./John Adams) paced the winners with 13 points, Rustad and freshman forward Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) each had 12 points, and Borland and sophomore forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) chipped in with 10 apiece.
The Tigers obliterated the school record for three-pointers taken in a game with 49 and set a new standard for treys made with 20. Bucheit and Rustad each had four triples as 10 players hit at least one in the game.
For Brown, the win was a landmark one for his career, but he characteristically was more concerned with his current team and its situation. He deflected congratulations after the game, instead talking about how privileged he is to be coaching at a place like Wittenberg and to have been associated with so many great people as a coach in Springfield.
"I so enjoy the guys who I get to be around every day," said Brown, a native of West Liberty, Ohio and a 1973 Wittenberg University graduate."I don't base the success of this programs solely on wins and losses. I look at it from the aspect of what do the student-athletes who played for me do after they leave Wittenberg and how they continue to interact with the program and its current members even after they graduate.
"Two hundred wins is nice, but what I like best is the people."
The 103-66 win over Hiram improved the 2001-02 Wittenberg team to 20-3 overall and, coupled with a loss by Wooster earlier in the day, put theTigers in sole possession of first place in the NCAC at 13-1. Wittenberg has not had a losing season since 1955-56, and under Brown the Tigers have put together nine consecutive outstanding seasons. His teams have won at least 18 games every year, they have claimed four NCAC regular season titles and one NCAC tournament crown, and the Tigers have made the NCAA Division III Championship tournament five times.
Among the highlights during the last nine years were a 26-0 start in 1993-94 en route to a third-place finish in the nation, an NCAA Elite Eight finish in 1995-96, and last year's 24-4 record that included an NCAC regular season championship and an NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen appearance. Brown won his 100th game at Wittenberg on March 6, 1997 in the first round of the NCAA tournament against John Carroll University. A significant career milestone arrived when he won his 200th career game on Nov. 24, 1999 against Wilmington. He won 60 games in his career before arriving at Wittenberg in 1993.
Brown's next milestone victory figures to come sometime in the 2003-04 season. With a career mark of 260-149, he needs 40 more wins to reach the 300-win plateau, a figure that just 50 active Division III coaches have previously reached.