CEDARVILLE, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's basketball team had a short ride to nearby Cedarville, but the game was not as forgiving. The Yellow Jackets made it a long night for the Tigers, hitting 17 three-pointers to keep the Red & White at bay.
Those 17 three-pointers came on 32 attempts, good for a 53.1% three-point percentage on the night. Overall the Yellow Jackets shot better from beyond the arc than within it, posting a 45.8 field goal percentage on 27 of 59 shooting. Wittenberg, comparatively, went just 21 for 63 from the field and six for 18 from behind the three-line. Tiger post players combined to go just five for 18 from the field against an excellent Cedarville paint crew.
Cedarville dominated the first half, hitting the locker room with an 11 point lead at 36-25. The Tigers made only one real push throughout the first 20 minutes, getting as close as 29-26 before losing momentum to an overtly physical and motivated Yellow Jacket squad. Cedarville's Daniel Rose made life tough in the paint, effectively shutting down the low post and squelching any chance Jeromy Romero (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes), Brandan Barabino (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit), and Sam Gregory (Gainesville, Fla./Oak Hall) had at getting an edge near the basket. It was more of the same in the second half, where the Tigers again missed on several chances to move within six points of Cedarville and could not pull the trigger.
The most productivity anywhere on the court came when Gregg Hill (Farmington Hills, Mich./Redford Union) found ways to score, juking inside, using the isolation to his advantage, and making the most of his hangtime with some impressive mid-air turnaround jumpers. Hill finished the night with a team high 19 points. Bolstering his performance was Kevin Murray (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) who played his best game this season dropping 17 points, including three for four shooting from the three-point zone, and gathering five rebounds.
On the positive side, the Tigers are beginning to settle down and play their own basketball, and also seem to be answering some lineup questions that have been lingering from the preseason discussions.
Written By: John Strawn