ADA, Ohio - Just two weeks to the day after catching 10 passes for 100 yards in the Wittenberg Tigers' 31-13 loss to eventual NCAA Division III football national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater, sophomore Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) made a triumphant return to the hardwood and helped the Tigers to a thrilling 61-59 win at Ohio Northern.
The win moved Wittenberg to 6-2 overall as the 2009-10 season nears the midway point. After two in-region road losses, the Tigers showed some resilience in rallying for the two-point win at ONU, which fell to 5-5.
McKee moved right into the starting lineup and contributed 12 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes. His gutty play set the tone in many ways for the Tigers, who were unable to sustain rallies in losses the last two Saturdays at Hiram and Anderson.
The Polar Bears built an eight-point lead late in the first half, but one of the biggest plays of the game occurred with just three seconds left before intermission. Freshman David Hieber (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) drained a three-pointer off an assist from senior Gregg Hill (Farmington Hills, Mich./Redford Union) to give the Tigers some much-needed momentum heading into the locker room.
ONU's five-point halftime lead evaporated quickly, and the two teams then traded the lead back and forth for most of the game. After the Polar Bears' Taylor Kuhlman put his team up two points with a three-pointer at the 5:22 mark of the second half, the Tigers got six straight points from Hill, part of an 8-0 run that built what turned out to be an insurmountable six-point advantage. ONU scored the last four points of the game, but a three-pointer in the waning seconds was off the mark and the Tigers escaped with the win.
Hill shot 3-of-14 from the field, but he was clutch when it counted, going 6-of-7 from the free throw line to finish with a team-high 13 points. He added three rebounds and four assists. Nine of the 10 Wittenberg players who saw action in the game found their way into both the scoring and rebounding columns for an excellent display of balance. Both teams shot 40 percent from the field, but the Tigers held a six-rebound edge. Twelve of those rebounds came at the offensive end, leading to three extra shot attempts. The deciding factor may well have been three-point shooting as Wittenberg hit 7-of-23, compared to just 4-of-21 for the Polar Bears.
Wittenberg next seeks a sweep of Ohio Athletic Conference regular season opponents Tuesday at home against Otterbein. Earlier in the season, the Tigers topped Capital.