DELAWARE, Ohio — After back-to-back North Coast Athletic Conference road wins by relatively comfortable margins, Wittenberg Tiger fans thought they had seen the last of the team's early-season road woes. Unfortunately that wasn't the case as the Tigers dropped a 70-48 decision at Ohio Wesleyan.
Playing for the first time without injured sophomore wing Mark Caraway (Jamestown, Ohio/Greeneview), the team's fourth-leading scorer, the sixth-ranked Tigers couldn't find any answers offensively, were beaten on the boards and committed an uncharacteristic 14 turnovers in dropping to 13-3 overall and 5-2 in the NCAC. Ohio Wesleyan, which will go for a rare double on Saturday when fourth-ranked Wooster visits, improved to 11-5 overall and 5-2 in the NCAC.
The Bishops' second win over a 2006 NCAA Division III Final Four squad (OWU topped Illinois Wesleyan early in the season) ended Wittenberg's modest seven-game win streak. Also of note, it was OWU's first win over Wittenberg in the last 15 meetings, dating back to the 2000-01 season, and just the Bishops' second win over the Tigers since 1977.
The game started well enough for Wittenberg, which scored the first five points. However, Ohio Wesleyan took the lead for good at the 13:47 mark of the first half on a conventional three-point play by Kyle Holliday, which kickstarted a 10-2 Bishop run.
Wittenberg closed to within 26-20 by halftime, but another 10-2 Ohio Wesleyan run to open the second half blew the game open. The Tigers could get nothing going either offensively or defensively in the final 20 minutes and the Bishops easily kept Wittenberg at arm's length the rest of the way.
Individually, Wittenberg was led by senior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) with 13 points and eight rebounds. It was the 14th time in 16 games this season that Borchers has paced the Tigers in scoring.
Ohio Wesleyan, on the other hand, shot 48 percent from the field, including a 9-of-22 performance from three-point range. Four Bishops reached double figures, including Ted Uritus with a game-high 16 points.