SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - What started out as a rout turned into a nailbiter as the visiting York College Cardinals got defensive in the second half and made the host Wittenberg Tigers work for a 69-62 victory in the second semifinal of the 2006 Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic.
The win moved sixth-ranked Wittenberg to 8-2 overall on the 2006 season, and it earned the Tigers a match-up opposite NAIA scholarship program Indiana University-Southeast at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. Wittenberg will be going for its 21st title in 24 home regular season tournaments against the Grenadiers, who defeated Thiel 83-59 in the other semifinal to improve to 13-3 on the season.
The Tigers started strong, but after taking a 30-12 lead midway through the first half, the offense wilted somewhat and York, an NCAA Division III Tournament qualifier a year ago, stepped up to the challenge with an 9-0 run to get back in the game. Wittenberg still took a 36-22 lead into the locker room at halftime, thanks to sophomore wing Mark Caraway's (Jamestown, Ohio/Greeneview) third three-pointer of the half just before intermission.
In the second half, Wittenberg pushed the lead out to 17 points with less than 14 minutes to play before York made another big push, this time whittling the lead down to 56-53 on a jumper by Michael Salamanca with 6:38 to play. Caraway answered with a three-pointer just 12 seconds later and the Tigers held on from there.
Wittenberg's depth was a key factor in the game as the Tigers spread the minutes out fairly well, compared to the Cardinals, who had four players in the game at least 37 minutes each. One of them, Jeffrey Boone, led all scorers with a tournament-high 27 points, while Aaron Wilson added 15.
The Tigers were paced by senior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia), who finished with his sixth double-double in his last seven games by pouring in 18 points and 13 rebounds. Caraway added 12 - all on three-pointers - while freshman guard David Nowicki (Carmel, Ind./Westfield) contributed 11 points, including eight in the second half. Also of note was the play of senior post Mark Huelsman (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana), who added a career-high-tying six points off the bench, and junior wing Brandan Barabino (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit), who chipped in with 10 points, also off the bench.
Wittenberg held a key 39-26 rebounding advantage, including a whopping 16 offensive caroms. Another key was three-point shooting percentage as Wittenberg hit 10-of-23, compared to 5-of-16 for York, which fell to 6-5 on the season.