GETTYSBURG, Pa. — The mark of a championship basketball team is toughness, manifested in a wide variety of ways during the course of a season. While the 2009-10 season is still in its infancy, the Wittenberg Tigers showed a certain amount of toughness, rallying for an improbable 66-61 victory over Messiah College in the championship game of the Gettysburg Days Inn Tip-Off Tournament.
The win, which came less than 24 hours after the Tigers thrashed third-place Catholic University of America by 25 points, moved the Tigers to 3-0 for the first time since the start of the 2006-07 season. That year, Wittenberg won its first six games for a second straight season. Messiah, which defeated the host Gettysburg Bullets in the first round on Friday, dropped to 2-1 on the season.
Messiah jumped out to a big lead midway through the first half and appeared to have things in control with a 37-24 lead at halftime. But after starting the game ice cold offensively, the Tigers stepped up their defensive pressure to force the Falcons into 10 second-half turnovers. That translated into numerous fast break opportunities and the offense as a whole found its rhythm. Wittenberg shot 52 percent from the field, including a 6-of-12 performance from three-point range, after shooting just 28 percent in the first half.
Wittenberg's rally started in earnest at the 8:18 mark of the second half when sophomore post Alex Brandt (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) knocked down a jumper in the paint to cut the lead down to 10 points. Moments later, the lead was sliced to three on a three-pointer by senior guard Gregg Hill (Farmington Hills, Mich./Redford Union) at the 4:55 mark, followed by a fast break lay-ups by junior guard Chris Sullivan (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and junior forward Lewis Buzzard (Columbus, Ohio/Franklin Heights).
After the teams briefly traded the lead, Sullivan knocked down a clutch three-pointer to give Wittenberg lead for good at 62-61 with 57 seconds remaining. The Tigers scored the last eight points in the game, following Sullivan's triple with 4-of-6 free throw shooting.
Hill led the Tigers with 13 points, although he did it the hard way on 4-of-19 shooting from the field, including 3-of-11 from three-point range. Sullivan added 11 points, while Buzzard turned in perhaps his finest collegiate performance, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds in 16 outstanding minutes off the bench.
Senior guard David Nowicki (Carmel, Ind./Westfield) earned Tournament MVP honors after he followed up a strong semifinal performance with a six-point, nine-assist outing in the championship game. Sophomore forward Clayton Black (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) added eight points, four blocked shots and five rebounds in just 13 minutes to pick up all-tournament team honors as well.