MEADVILLE, Pa. - To those who watch the North Coast Athletic Conference closely, Saturday's game between the Wittenberg Tigers and the Allegheny Gators was assured to be a difficult one for the visitors, despite the fact that Wittenberg had won seven in a row in the series and had claimed back-to-back conference championships the last two years. The Gators may be in the middle of the conference pack in 2002-03 but they are clearly a team on the rise, and they broke through for their biggest win of the year 66-63 over Wittenberg.

Allegheny shot 46 percent from the field in the game and came up with 14 steals to post the upset win. The Gators shot even better in the second half, scorching the nets to the tune of 58 percent to expand a one-point halftime lead to as much as 12 and then hold off a late Tiger charge. The loss dropped Wittenberg to 13-5 overall and 8-2 in the NCAC, while Allegheny improved to 9-10 and 5-5 in the conference.

Allegheny hurt Wittenberg time and again with timely baskets and forced 20 Tiger turnovers, a key statistic in a game in which the visitors dominated the rebounding category 46-30, including 20 Wittenberg offensive rebounds. Allegheny's Nick Catanzarite led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 7-for-13 from the field and 8-for-8 from the foul line.

Wittenberg led by as much as seven points twice in the first half, but the Gators went on a 17-9 run over the final 10 minutes to take a 28-27 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the second half, Allegheny came out firing and pulled out to a 54-42 lead at the 8:09 mark before the Tigers made a late charge to pull within three points on four occasions in the final two minutes. For the game, the Tigers were sure on just 37 percent of their attempts from the field, including a 9-of-27 performance from beyond the three-point arc, and managed just 4-of-9 from the free throw line.

Junior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) had his biggest game in months with 22 points, including four 3-pointers and a 9-for-12 performance from the field. Senior center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins) had his third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds, sophomore guardDanny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) chipped in with 10 points and freshman center Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds.

The Tigers don't have time to feel sorry for themselves, however. Next up is a home date on Wednesday against Ohio Wesleyan, which is the league's fourth-place team after a surprising home defeat against Hiram on Saturday.