Gregg Hill
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers rallied from a six-point deficit in the final two minutes to force overtime and then shut the Marian Knights out 9-0 in the five-minute extra session to claim a thrilling 75-66 victory in the championship game of the 2009 Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic.
The Tigers, who advanced to the title game with a 55-49 win over Olivet in the first round, improved to 9-2 on the 2009-10 season and captured their 23th home tournament championship in the 27 years of the competition. Marian, which defeated Ohio Dominican on the first day of the tourney, dropped to 7-6 overall. It was the fourth time in 13 years that the Knights had lost a Wittenberg tournament title game.
Just like the previous three meetings between the two teams in Wittenberg tournament action, the game was hard-fought, physical and closely contested. This battle came down to a 10-minute stretch run in which the Tigers scored the last 15 points.
Marian took a 66-60 lead on a free throw from Matt Dickerson at the 5:23 mark, but the Knights missed their last five shots and committed four turnovers the rest of the way in regulation. That allowed the Tigers to claw back, culminating with a fast break lay-up by sophomore forward Michael Cooper (Springfield, Ohio/South) at the 1:04 mark. Neither team got a shot off in the final minute, instead trading multiple turnovers.
In the overtime, senior wing Gregg Hill (Farmington Hills, Mich./Redford Union) started the scoring in overtime with a lay-up and finished it with two free throws in the closing seconds. He finished with 23 points, four rebounds and two assists en route to Tournament MVP honors.
Also making the all-tournament team was senior post Mark Snyder (Celina, Ohio/Parkway Riverside), who topped everyone in the game with 12 rebounds to go along with nine points. Rounding things out for the Tigers were Cooper with 12 points and seven rebounds in 24 outstanding minutes off the bench, and 11 points and seven boards from sophomore Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh).
Marian's Jordan Tucker led both teams with 26 points, although he was held to just seven after halftime. He made the all-tournament team, along with teammate Anthony Furlin, who finished with 15 points. Dickerson added 12 points and Alex Sylvester round out the double figure scorers with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.