DELAWARE, Ohio — For the second straight game, the Wittenberg Tigers went toe-to-toe with one of the leading contenders for the 2008 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship. Unlike Saturday's dramatic overtime win over nationally ranked Wooster, the Tigers watched their opponent make the key plays down the stretch in a 70-67 loss at Ohio Wesleyan.
The loss snapped a nine-game win streak for Wittenberg and dropped the Tigers to 10-6 overall and 6-1 in the NCAC, good for a tie with Wooster. Ohio Wesleyan improved to 10-5 overall and 6-2 in the conference, just one-half back of the league leaders.
Just as Wooster led most of the way against Wittenberg, the Tigers held the upper hand on the scoreboard throughout against the veteran Battling Bishops. In fact, OWU led for just 26 seconds in the game, including 18 seconds in the first minute of the game after scoring the first field goal. The Bishops never let Wittenberg build a double-digit lead, consistently knocking three-pointers at clutch moments to set up a game-winning lay-up by Dustin Rudegeair with just eight seconds left. Brian Cafarella iced it with two free throws after Wittenberg junior guard Gregg Hill (Farmington Hills, Mich./Redford Union) was called for an offensive foul to turn the ball over after Rudegeair's basket.
A key statistic in this game was a 34-28 rebounding edge for the Bishops. Included in that number was a whopping 19 offensive caroms, including one by OWU's Kyle Miller that led to a three-pointer by Casey Teeters after Wittenberg had opened up an eight-point lead with 5:38 to play in the game. Teeters finished with three treys in the game, all in the final five minutes - including one that tied the game at 63 and one that stopped a four-point Wittenberg run and gave the Bishops new life at 67-66 with 59 seconds left.
It was an inside-outside combination that stopped the Tigers as OWU's senior post players Jesse Jean and Rudegeair combined for 32 points and, amazingly, 12 of the team's 15 successful two-point field goals. From long range, the Bishops were 10-of-25, compared to 5-of-12 for Wittenberg.
In combination with the rebounding margin, the difference in three-point shooting was the difference in the game. Wittenberg shot 52 percent from the field in the first half and 48 percent for the game, compared to Ohio Wesleyan's 44 percent overall.
Individually, Wittenberg got another tremendous performance from senior wing Brandan Barabino (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit), who finished with 16 points, four rebounds and two steals. He hit 6-of-9 from the field in the game. Hill added 14 points and two assists, while freshman guard Derrick Hannon (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) put together another outstanding game off the bench, contributing eight points and a game-high four assists to the effort. Hannon also had two rebounds and two steals.
In perhaps the most balanced year of men's basketball in the NCAC in years, the Tigers have little time to hang their heads. OWU is joined by Wabash and surprising Kenyon with just two losses in the conference title chase, and the Lords visit Wittenberg Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off.