The Wittenberg men's basketball team saw its season come to an end on March 6 with an NCAA Division III Tournament loss at home to eventual regional champion John Carroll. Following a first-round bye, the Tigers, regular season champions of the North Coast Athletic Conference, were defeated 84-65.
John Carroll, regular season and tournament champions of the Ohio Athletic Conference, took the lead less than a minute into the game and never looked back. The lead stretched to as much as 14 several times in the first half before settling in at that margin by halftime, 44-30. Wittenberg opened the second half with plenty of fight left, pushing the Blue Streak lead down to 10 on several occasions, but the Tigers never managed to push the advantage back into single digits.
The Blue Streaks were the more athletic, deeper team, a point punctuated by the statistic of the night - bench points were 52-15 in favor of JCU. The Tigers, hindered by the absence of sophomore center Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) due to a broken wrist, couldn't come up with the big shots or the big defensive stops.
Wittenberg got game-highs of 25 points and nine rebounds from senior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) in the defeat and sophomore center Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) added 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Also of note was the play of sophomore forward Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading), who chipped in with six points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
The loss brought a terrific season to an end. The Tigers won 20 consecutive games between Dec. 13 and Feb. 28, including 16 in a row in the NCAC. It was the second time in school history that Wittenberg had run the table in the NCAC regular season.
After the season, Walker was named first-team All-NCAC and third-team All-Great Lakes Region by d3hoops.com. The Tigers finished the season ranked No. 14 in the nation.
Round Up: Tigers Fall To John Carroll In NCAA Tournament
Posted: Mar 23, 2004