The Wittenberg men's basketball team will finally have the opportunity to play a team other than the Allegheny Gators tonight when the Tigers square off with the Wabash Little Giants in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals at the College of Wooster. Wittenberg is the tourney's No. 2 seed after finishing second in the regular season, while Wabash is the No. 3 seed.
The Tigers swept the two regular season meetings with Wabash and stand 23-3 overall. In the last week, Wittenberg dropped Allegheny twice, on Saturday in the regular season finale on the Gators' home floor and on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the NCAC Tournament back home in Springfield. Wittenberg ranks fifth in the nation currently, but the Tigers have slipped to third in the Great Lakes Region rankings, placing added importance on this weekend's conference tournament.
Wittenberg advanced to the NCAC Tournament semifinals for the 16th straight year (every year since joining the league in 1989) with a 74-46 victory over visiting Allegheny on Tuesday. The win was Wittenberg's 45th in 46 all-time first round conference tournament games.
For Wittenberg, the usual suspects stood out on the statistics sheet, but it was a full squad effort that led to victory. Junior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) led all scorers with 21 points, as he hit 5-of-7 from the field and 11-of-12 from the free throw line, and he added four assists and three rebounds. Senior wing Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) checked in with 15 points on five three-pointers (in seven attempts) and junior post Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) was outstanding with nine points and 15 boards, easily a game-high.
Against Allegheny on Saturday in the regular season finale, the Tigers served notice of what was to come in the tourney with a 77-47 road win. The win capped the Tigers' third 22-3 regular season in the last five years.
Wittenberg, which never trailed and led by 12 at halftime before blowing the game wide open early in the final 20 minutes, spread the wealth all over the stats sheet, starting with four players in double figures for scoring. Perhaps the best individual marks were turned in by senior guard Danny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont), who finished with 12 points (on four three-pointers), six assists and no turnovers in 22 extremely productive minutes.
Russ led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Borchers finished with 14 points and five rebounds and Bucheit chipped in with 12 points on four three-pointers. Wittenberg, which leads the nation in rebounding margin, garnered 53 boards to just 28 for the Gators. Included in the Tigers' rebounding total was 22 offensive boards, almost as many as Allegheny gained in total.
Wittenberg and Wabash play in the first game of a doubleheader at Wooster on Friday, with the top-seeded Scots tangling with fifth-seeded Earlham in the day's second game, scheduled for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off. The winners proceed to the NCAC Tournament title game Saturday, with most expecting to see Round 3 of the NCAC's annual Clash of the Titans, namely Wittenberg vs. Wooster. The two split their regular season meetings, with the most recent meeting a 102-95 triple overtime Wooster win on the Tigers' home floor on Feb. 12.