SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - It was only the second lead Wittenberg University had all day, but it was the one that mattered. Trailing the second-seeded College of Wooster Fighting Scots by two points, the No. 1 seeded and nationally ranked Tigers were rescued by three clutch foul shots by senior guard Greg Rustad with eight seconds remaining as they pulled out a 58-57 win at the HPER Center and earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament, which begins Thursday, Feb. 28.
Wittenberg trailed the entire first half, at one point by 10 points at 22-12, before rallying to within one by halftime. They did it not by executing their offensive game plan to the best of their ability but by ratcheting up the defense and limiting the Scots to just two points in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
In the second half, the two teams traded blows repeatedly, with Wooster pulling out to leads as large as eight points as late as the 10:07 mark. But Wittenberg showed a great deal of heart, once again clamping down on the Scots and asserting itself on the boards. Freshman forward Andy Bucheit, who led the Tigers with 10 points off the bench, hit a key shot to tie the game at 49 with 4:01 remaining, senior center Brian Gratsch knocked down a clutch shot in the lane with 2:05 remaining to force another tie at 55, setting the stage for Rustad to respond to a strong move to the hoop by Wooster junior forward Bryan Nelson, whose basket with 41 seconds remaining in the game gave the Scots their final lead.
The Tigers ran a final play for Rustad, isolating him on Wooster's Matt Smith at the top of the key. Rustad pulled up and faked a three-pointer, getting Smith in the air, and then leaned in hard to draw contact while throwing up an errant shot. Rustad then calmly toed the line and knocked three straight free throws without even drawing iron.
Wittenberg improved to 25-3 overall with the win, which sealed an NCAC regular season and tournament title in the same year for the first time since 1996. The Tigers, who also got a huge performance from sophomore Peter Walker off the bench with six points and 11 rebounds, will learn their NCAA tournament fate on Sunday evening. Wooster, which likely concludes the year at 21-7, was paced by Nelson's 18 points and senior guard Antwyan Reynolds, who knocked down 13 points.