ROCHESTER, NY — Veteran teams hungry to prove themselves on a national stage find ways to win in adverse situations. That's exactly what the Wittenberg Tigers did on Saturday in a 52-50 win over the University of Rochester in the championship game of Rochester's Chuck Resler Tournament at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
Senior wing Kenny Brady, junior point guard Pat Denbow and senior wing Phil Steffes all made three-point goals down the stretch as the 10th-ranked Tigers held off 23rd-ranked Rochester, a night after overcoming foul problems to defeat Tufts University in a first-round match-up. The host Yellowjackets were the national runners up a year ago, while Tufts won 16 games in 2004-05.
While the game was close throughout, the Tigers never actually trailed while improving to 2-0 on the season. Wittenberg's biggest lead of the game was a 10-point advantage early in the first half as senior post Daniel Russ scored the first seven points of the game and had nine of the Tigers' first 11. Rochester fought back, however, finally tying the score at 26-26 on a three-pointer, but Brady made a layup with 2:14 to go and it was 28-26 at halftime.
The Yellowjackets (1-1) drew within one point twice in the second half, the last time on Mike Goia's three-pointer from deep on left wing that made the score 44-43 with 5:08 remaining. Steffes connected from the right corner to give the Tigers some breathing room, and after two Rochester free throws, Denbow gave Wittenberg a five-point cushion with a trey at the 4:03 mark.
A three-pointer by Rochester's Jeff Juron cut it to 50-48 with 2:17 to go as the Tigers went four minutes without a point. Denbow finally broke the drought with a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left before Rochester made a layup with 10 seconds left to make it a two-point game again. Steffes missed the front end of the one and one with eight seconds remaining, giving Rochester one final opportunity but a Tim Brackney three-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Brady was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after finishing with nine points, four rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal in 29 minutes in the title game, this a night after he led all players with 21 points and seven rebounds against Tufts. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Russ, who led the Tigers with 13 points a night after foul problems limited last year's North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year to just six points and four rebounds. Senior post Dane Borchers added 10 points and eight rebounds despite foul problems for a second straight game.
Wittenberg, which was uncharacteristically outrebounded by Tufts on Friday, came back to win the battle of the boards against Rochester, 34-23.