SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers put together one of their most complete performances of the season on Saturday with a 78-60 victory over visiting Baldwin-Wallace College in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. As a result, the Tigers are headed to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2001.
Wittenberg, the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament champion for the second straight year, controlled the game from the outset, although the outcome was certainly in doubt until the closing minutes. The Tigers improved to 27-3 overall, and exorcised the demons of two straight second round home losses to John Carroll the last two years. Like Baldwin-Wallace this year, the Blue Streaks were Ohio Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titlists in 2004 and 2005 before coming to Springfield for upset victories.
The storyline in this one was obvious - the No. 1 team in the nation in terms of shooting percentage (Baldwin-Wallace) against the No. 1 defensive team in the nation (Wittenberg). It wasn't so much the Tigers' defense, which was outstanding, that made the difference, however. It was Wittenberg's offensive efficiency that stood out as the Tigers shot 54.7 percent from the field, including a torrid 10-of-22 from three-point range.
It was outside shooting that opened up a 13-point lead by halftime as Wittenberg, forced to play without star senior post Daniel Russ for all but four minutes of the first half due to foul problems, spread the wealth on offense by draining seven treys. Four of those came from senior wing Kenny Brady, who followed his career-high-tying 23-point performance on Friday night against Lake Erie College with a 20-point outing against BW. He hit for 18 of those in the first half.
In the second half, BW got the lead down to seven on two occasions around the 12-minute mark, but the Tigers had tremendous responses on both occasions. At the 11:53 mark, Wittenberg junior post Jack Hemenway nailed a short, athletic jumper in the lane while being fouled to stop a six-point BW burst. Then after the Yellow Jackets scored on their next possession, Hemenway redeemed himself for a turnover with a tremendous block at the other end. That led to a clutch three-pointer by Wittenberg senior post Dane Borchers.
Kenny Brady hits one of his four first-half three-pointers.
BW refused to go away, even after Wittenberg pushed the lead out to 18 points with 5:33 left. A three-pointer by Brendan Schuler cut it to eight at the 3:42 mark before Borchers scored on a lay-up and Russ put an exclamation point on things with a steal and a breakaway dunk.
Wittenberg hit four straight free throws in the final two minutes and Borchers ended it with the shot clock winding down on a three-pointer with 29 seconds left.
Wittenberg won the rebounding battle 32-29 and the Tigers committed just eight turnovers, compared to 11 for BW. Brady led Wittenberg with 20 points, Borchers added 18 points and six rebounds and Russ had a huge second half to finish with 12 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots. Hemenway had one of his best games as a collegian, finishing with seven points and five rebounds in 15 productive minutes off the bench.
Baldwin-Wallace, which dropped to 25-5 on the season, was paced by the 26 points, four rebounds and two blocks by OAC Player of the Year Tori Davis. But the outside shots weren't falling for the Yellow Jackets, who made just 5-of-19 from long range. Keith Aufmuth, one of BW's heroes in Friday's 79-71 win over Carnegie Mellon, scored 10 points, but he hit just 4-of-9 from the field. As a team, the Yellow Jackets were held to 39.2 percent shooting, a full 15 points below their season average.
Wittenberg's next opponent will be Hope College on Friday, March 10 at a site to be determined.