The Wittenberg men's basketball team continues to show signs of playing at a championship level. The key now is for the Tigers to keep building toward a strong finish as the home stretch to the 2004-05 regular season nears.
Wittenberg, ranked 13th in the nation, improved to 14-2 overall and 6-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference with its two biggest wins to date, road victories over Wooster on Jan. 15 and Ohio Wesleyan on Jan. 19. The Tigers are riding a nine-game win streak, dating back to a double overtime loss at Denison on Dec. 11. The win over Wooster, which was ranked No. 1 at the time, was especially sweet as it pulled the Tigers even in the conference title chase.
Against Wooster, the top-ranked defense in the NCAC met the top-ranked offense, and in the end the latter proved no match as the Tigers stunned previously unbeaten arch-rival Wooster on its home floor, 69-51.
Wittenberg won the second-half rebounding battle, 21-10, and ended the game with an 11-board advantage, one short of the team's average that ranks third nationally and first in the NCAC. The Tigers held Wooster to 29 percent shooting for the game and finished things off in fine fashion with a 20-of-22 free throw shooting performance, including 8-of-8 in the final two minutes.
Junior post Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) led all scorers with 16 points, and he added five rebounds. Junior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) added 14 points and six boards, senior wing Andy Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) chipped in with 12 points and three rebounds, senior guard Kenny Molz (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) capped his night with 12 points and four boards off the bench and junior wing Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading) wound up with nine points and four caroms in 22 effective minutes off the pine.
The Tigers now have two wins over No. 1 ranked teams in 2004-05 after beating NAIA Division II poll leader Cedarville on Dec. 4 and NCAA Division III poll leader Wooster on Jan. 15. It was the second time in six years that Wooster has spent exactly one week at No. 1, and each time the Tigers have ended that brief reign with a win on the Scots' home court. In addition, 1973 Wittenberg graduate Steve Moore, Wooster's head coach, was denied his 400th career win, a milestone he instead reached on Jan. 19 in a win over Hiram. Wittenberg, which has the best record in the NCAC since 2000, has defeated Wooster eight times in the last nine regular season meetings.
Against Ohio Wesleyan, the Tigers kept the momentum going, wearing down the Bishops on their home court, 61-49. The key to the game was post play, as it usually is for the Tigers. Wittenberg held OWU's frontline in check while pounding away on the offensive end with a combined 32 points and 26 rebounds from Borchers and Russ.
Russ, a second-team all-conference honoree in 2004 and the reigning NCAC Player of the Week, finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Borchers had one of the finest games of his career with 18 points and 15 boards. The Tigers wore OWU down, allowing just 22 second-half points, including a 1-of-12 performance from three-point range after the Bishops hit 7-of-16 in the first half. Wittenberg, which ranks second nationally in team defense at 54.9 points per game, is back in action on Saturday at Hiram, the final game of a tough 10-day string of road games. After that, the Tigers are home for four of five games, starting with a Jan. 26 date with the Earlham College Quakers.