SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Wittenberg rode the hot shooting of sophomore wing Chris Sullivan (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) to pick up the consolation game win over the College of Mount St. Joseph in the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic by a 82-75 score. Sullivan finished as one of three Tigers in double figures as Bill Brown's squad finished 1-1 in their host tournament.
Sullivan's 19 points, including 12 in the second stanza, helped the Tigers extend a one-point lead at halftime to as many as eight. However, the Lions, led by another strong outing by Michael Romes continued to fight their way back into the ball game. The Lions tied the game on a number of occasions in the second half, but could not close out the contest. Romes finished with 27 points to lead all scorers.
Senior wing Kevin Murray (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) hit a three-pointer with under a minute remaining to build a five-point lead for the home-standing Tigers, providing enough breathing room for Head Coach Bill Brown's squad to pick up its fourth win of the season against six losses. Freshman wing Michael Cooper (Springfield, Ohio/South) continued his breakout with 12 points to complement the 14 tallies of Murray. Seven Wittenberg players finished with seven or more points in the game.
Mount St. Joseph shot 48 percent from the floor for the contest, including an identical mark from beyond the arc. Mitchell Goldschmidt hit four triples and accumulated 14 points on the afternoon. Travis Huffman and Kyle McCord also finished in double figures, each with 10 points.
Wittenberg shot the basketball well, making 54 percent of their shots, while finding 18 assists on their 30 field goals. Junior post Mark Snyder (Celina, Ohio/Parkway)led the way with four distributions for the Tigers.
It was the first time that the Tigers found themselves in the consolation game of the Zimmerman Classic, but they made their first experience in the early game a good one. They now head to Oberlin College of Saturday, Jan. 3, as they head into conference play in earnest with a 3 p.m. tip time. Mount St. Joseph falls to 4-7 on the season, while Wittenberg climbs to 4-6.
Written By: Ben Bradley, SID Assistant