Steve Heatherly
ANDERSON, Ind. - The Wittenberg Tigers had two big rallies in them. Unfortunately, playing a quality foe with its shooting stroke working on its home court proved too much, and the Tigers were unable to muster a third rally in an 86-69 loss at Anderson University.
The loss dropped Wittenberg to 5-2 overall and a 4-0 start to the 2009-10 season. Anderson, which earlier this season went on the road to defeat nationally ranked Wisconsin-Platteville, improved to 7-1.
Over the first seven minutes, Anderson jumped out to a 20-12 lead, but the Tigers battled back to take the lead within the next three minutes, capped by a three-point play by senior Gregg Hill (Farmington Hills, Mich./Redford Union). The two teams battled back and forth over the final 11 minutes of the half before the Tigers took a 40-38 lead into the locker room.
The second half started was tight as well through the first 11 minutes before Anderson went on a game-changing six-point run to expand the lead from 65-60 to 71-60 with 6:52 left. The Tigers got the lead back down to eight on two free throws by Hill, but the Ravens responded with a decisive seven-point run to take an insurmountable 18-point lead with 2:49 left.
After shooting 54.5 percent in the first half and a respectable 47.5 percent for the game overall, in addition to winning the rebounding battle 34-31, the stats sheet indicates that the Tigers should have been right in the game. But upon closer examination, the Ravens hit 10-of-21 from three-point range, compared to 4-of-20 for Wittenberg, and the Tigers made a season-high 18 turnovers, compared to just 10 by Anderson.
Junior Chris Sullivan (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) led Wittenberg with 17 points and five assists, while Hill added 13 points and junior forward Lewis Buzzard (Columbus, Ohio/Franklin Heights) chipped in with 19 points in 22 quality minutes off the bench. Freshman Steven Heatherly (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka) and senior Mark Snyder (Celina, Ohio/Parkway) added nine points apiece. Not only were the nine points a career high for Heatherly, but they were the first nine of his collegiate career.
The Tigers have a week to work out the kinks before returning to action at Ohio Northern at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19.