SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - A great deal was on the line Saturday at Pam Evans Smith Arena, and the Wittenberg Tigers rose to the challenge with a 68-44 victory over visiting Kenyon.
For starters, the Lords came into the game fourth in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), compared to fifth for the Tigers. The win moved Wittenberg into a fourth-place tie with Kenyon at 9-7 in the conference, and the Tigers secured home court advantage in the NCAC Tournament by virtue of a regular season sweep of the Lords. These two teams will square off in the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, on Wittenberg's home floor.
Just as significantly, Wittenberg was playing for a piece of history as a loss would have all but assured the first losing season since the 1955-56 season. Now, with a record of 13-12 at the conclusion of the 2008-09 regular season, the Tigers are assured of at least a .500 record for the 40th straight year, dating back to a 13-13 mark in 1967-68. They can secure a winning record with a win over Kenyon on Tuesday.
The Lords, playing without their top two scorers due to injury and illness, put up a game fight through the first 16 minutes of the game before the Tigers went on a 9-3 run over the last 4:01 of the first half. Wittenberg then broke the game wide open with nine straight points to open the second half.
The lead reached as many as 27 points late in the game as the Tigers held Kenyon to just 44 points, the lowest scoring output of any Wittenberg opponent in 2008-09. It was just the third time all season that the Tigers had limited an opponent to less than 50 points.
The Lords were held to 37 percent shooting from the field and were harrassed into 19 turnovers, many on errant entry passes into the post. The Tigers had similar problems handling the basketball, committing 15 turnovers, but they dominated the rebounding battle, 43-28, and shot 43 percent from the field, including a 9-of-20 performance from three-point range.
Individually, Wittenberg was paced by its lone senior, wing Kevin Murray (Carmel, Ind./Carmel). Playing in his final regular season home game, Murray poured in 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, including a 3-of-4 performance from three-point range. He added six rebounds.
No other Tiger players reached double figures, although junior post Mark Snyder (Celina, Ohio/Riverside) turned in a solid performance with six points and a game-high eight rebounds. Freshman wing Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) added eight points on 3-of-4 shooting in his first significant minutes since spraining his ankle against IU-East on Monday.
The win snapped a three-game NCAC losing streak for the Tigers as they head into perhaps the most wide-open conference tournament in history. Kenyon fell to 15-10 overall and 9-7 in the NCAC.