SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - It isn't often that a basketball game is over in the first six minutes, but in essence the North Coast Athletic Conference clash between Wittenberg and Kenyon was just that on Wednesday in the HPER Center. The Tigers scored the first 16 points of the game and pretty much put it on cruise control from there for a convincing 89-56 victory over the visiting Lords and first-year Head Coach Matt Croci, the former Wittenberg All-American and NCAC Player of the Year in 1994.

Senior guard Rod Emmons (South Bend, Ind./John Adams) drained three straight three-pointers to key a 16-0 game-opening outburst for the Tigers before Alex Neuman finally got the Lords on the board with a three-pointer at the 14:43 mark of the first half. Wittenberg then scored nine more points in a row, including another triple by Emmons, as the Tigers stretched the lead to 25-3. After Kenyon put together a 7-3 run to start the second half, cutting the lead to 42-29, the Lords couldn't keep pace as the Tigers took full control with a 21-5 run, capped by a three-pointer by junior guard Danny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) at the 10:39 mark that expanded the lead to 30 points at 64-34.

For the game, Wittenberg shot 51.7 percent from the field while attempting 33 triples, making 13, and the Tigers won the rebounding battle, 36-32. A key statistic was turnovers as Kenyon committed 18 to a season-low seven for Wittenberg. Kenyon shot 36 percent from the field and attempted a whopping 36 treys, making 11.

Wittenberg, which improved to 9-3 overall and 3-0 in the NCAC heading into a Saturday afternoon match-up with Denison, was paced individually by senior forward Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier). He had perhaps his finest all-around game of the season, picking up the slack for leading scorer Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity), who missed the game due to illness, by scoring 21 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and distributing five assists. Emmons added 14 points, all in the first half, and five rebounds, junior wing Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) chipped in with 14 points and three boards, and sophomore center Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) came off the bench to post a career-high 13 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 shooting from the free throw line.

Kenyon was led by Arlen Galloway, who had 16 points in a losing efforts. The Lords are now 3-9 overall and 0-3 in the NCAC.