HIRAM, Ohio - After forty years of dominating the series against the Hiram Terriers, the Tigers finally snapped their consecutive win streak, falling to Hiram 80-77 on the road.
Senior wing Kevin Murray (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) carried the Tiger offense for stretches of the contest as he finished with 20 points to pace Wittenberg, but his last-second three-point attempt fell short and Hiram had its first win in 20 games against the Tigers since joining the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) in 2000.
Hiram put Wittenberg on their heels right from the outset of the contest, building a double-figure lead five minutes into the game. Wittenberg responded in the up-tempo game with numerous runs of their own, even briefly claiming the lead late in the first half. However, the Terriers continued to ride their hot shooting as they claimed a 43-39 lead at the break.
In the second half, junior post Mark Snyder (Celina, Ohio/Parkway) established himself on the low block, scoring all nine of his points after intermission before fouling out late in the game. Freshman wing Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) also landed clutch baskets to keep the Tigers close as he finished with nine points, while freshman wing Michael Cooper (Springfield, Ohio/South) added 12 points off the bench. In the end, however, Hiram countered with strong play from sophomore Chris Roberts to pull out the win and top the Tigers for the first time since 1968, when the two schools were both members of the Ohio Athletic Conference.
Wittenberg, which dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the NCAC with the loss, will look to rebound after a nine-day layoff when they take on non-conference foe Otterbein College on Dec. 22 in Westerville, Ohio. The win, just Hiram's third in 54 all-time games against Wittenberg, improved the Terriers to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
Written By: Ben Bradley, SID Assistant