SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — It had all the earmarks on paper before the game of a lopsided Wittenberg win, and it turned out to be just that. The Wittenberg Tigers jumped on visiting Lake Erie in the opening and never let the Storm up for air in a 76-40 victory in Wittenberg's HPER Center.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 26-3 overall on the 2005-06 season. Wittenberg will face Baldwin-Wallace in a second round game at 7 p.m. Saturday, also in the HPER Center. The Yellow Jackets, regular season and tournament champions of the Ohio Athletic Conference, defeated Carnegie Mellon University 79-71 in the first game of Friday's first-round doubleheader at Wittenberg. Baldwin-Wallace brings a 25-4 overall record into Saturday's game.
Wittenberg scored 14 of the game's first 16 points and pretty much cruised from there. With the score 21-10, Wittenberg held Lake Erie to just one point over the final 8:30 of the first half, in the process opening up a commanding 36-11 halftime lead. The Storm, which were making their first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance ever, got no closer than 21 points in the final 20 minutes.
The key for the Tigers was unselfish basketball. Twenty-two of their 26 field goals in the game were assisted, including all 13 from three-point range as the Tigers worked the ball around the halfcourt with the Storm sagging down on Wittenberg's vaunted post game.
Senior wing Kenny Brady was the game's offensive star as he poured in a career-high tying 23 points, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Senior post Daniel Russ quietly added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, junior wing Billy Bowen was hot with 11 points, including 3-of-5 from three-point range, and junior post Jack Hemenway was solid off the bench with nine points and nine boards.
Lake Erie, which shot just 24 percent from the field, including a 5-of-30 spot in the first half alone, became the latest in a long line of teams unable to find an answer to the Tigers' defense. The No. 1 ranked defensive team in NCAA Division III with a scoring average of just 54.6 per game coming into the tournament, the Tigers have held all one team to 61 points or less this season.
It was Wittenberg's NCAA Division III-record 43rd all-time national tourney victory in the NCAA Division III-record 24th appearance in school history and the Tigers' first win since 2002 against Franklin University, also in the HPER Center. The Tigers are hoping to advance past the second round of the national tournament for just the second time since 1996 when Wittenberg, ironically, defeated Baldwin-Wallace, Capital and Gustavus Adolphus before bowing out to Hope in the national quarterfinals. Wittenberg has lost three straight NCAA Division III Tournament games to OAC foes, including John Carroll at home each of the last two years (following byes). The Tigers' last Round of 16 appearance came in 2002 after a bye and a second round win over Maryville. They lost at Ohio Northern in the Round of 16.
Lake Erie, which was the victim of Wittenberg's largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game (including seven college division tournaments prior to 1975), was led by Reggie Richardson with 15 points. Lake Erie won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular season and tournament championships to advance to the national competition. The Storm capped the season with a 21-7 overall record.