The Wittenberg men's basketball team did it the hard way, but when the dust had settled on last week's exciting NCAC action, the Tigers had claimed a 14-2 regular season conference record and a 19-5 overall mark for the 2002-03 campaign.
On Wednesday, coming off an emotional home victory four days earlier over nationally ranked Wooster, the Tigers got out of the gates strong before settling into a classic overtime battle at Wabash. After narrowly escaping with a win that night, the Tigers returned home to close out the regular season with a convincing 75-51 win over Denison.
Against Wabash, Wittenberg had to fend off a determined challenge from host Wabash to escape with a thrilling 95-86 overtime victory. The Tigers came out strong behind the shooting of junior guard Rod Emmons (South Bend, Ind./John Adams). Emmons scored 17 of Wittenberg's first 22 points and had 20 tallies by the halftime intermission. During the first 20 minutes of action, Wittenberg moved out to a lead as large as 24 points before Wabash rallied to cut it to 44-33 by halftime.
In the second half, Wittenberg fended off every Little Giant challenge but one. Clinging to an 80-77 lead with eight seconds left, the Tigers attempted to foul Wabash on the drive upcourt, but no infraction was whistled and Wabash tied the game with just three seconds left in regulation. In the overtime Wittenberg finally pulled away. Senior forward Kevin Longley (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler) got things started with a conventional three-point play and fellow senior co-captain, center B.J. Harris (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins), closed things out with four straight free throws in the final 33 seconds.
Emmons finished with a career-high 38 points, a mere 17 more than his previous best total of 21 set in last year's NCAA Division III tournament loss at DePauw. Junior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) added 13 points and seven rebounds. Harris finished with nine points and eight boards, while Longley added nine points and seven caroms.
The Tigers finished off the 2002-03 regular season with a full head of steam, defeating visiting Denison 75-51 to clinch second seed in the upcoming NCAC tournament. Wittenberg never trailed, jumping out to an 8-0 lead and holding onto a double-digit advantage for 33 of the game's 40 minutes. The Tigers worked the lead to 40-18 by halftime and then treaded water through a very even second half to coast to the win.
The difference in the game was shooting - Wittenberg hit 48 percent from the field, including 42 percent from three-point range, and also made 13-of-18 free throw shots. The Big Red managed just 34 percent from the field, 22 percent from beyond the arc and didn't even attempt a free throw in the entire game.
Wittenberg was led by Walker, who had his shooting stroke working en route to a game-high 19 points. Also finishing in double figures on offense was sophomore guard Danny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) with 10 points.
Individually, Wittenberg's biggest and best story on Senior Recognition Night was provided by Longley, who became the second player this season to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career. Longley scored 16 points, including 13 in the first half, and became the 26th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Harris reached that mark earlier in the season, and he chipped in with six points and eight rebounds on this night.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the NCAC Tournament. Denison is the No. 7 seed in the competition, while Wittenberg, the defending NCAC regular season and tournament champion, is the No. 2 seed behind nationally ranked Wooster. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:45 p.m., immediately following the Wittenberg women's game against Oberlin.
Roundup: Tigers Regular Season Comes to a Close
Posted: Feb 25, 2003