SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg men's basketball team tuned up for its most challenging road trip of the 2012-13 season with a thorough 64-47 victory over visiting Wabash.
Wittenberg hits into the stretch run of the 2012-13 season with a head of steam, winner of three of its last four games, including back-to-back wins by 17-point margins over Allegheny and Wabash. The Tigers improved to 15-7 overall and remained alone in third place in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) standings with an 8-5 record.
Wittenberg has just three games remaining in the regular season, starting with a re-match against arch-rival Wooster at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9. All three teams left on the Tigers' schedule beat Wittenberg earlier in the season.
Wittenberg got off to a slow start against Wabash, coming up empty on its first four shots before junior Steven Newell (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) broke the ice with a three-pointer at the 16:19 mark of the first half. From there, however, the Tigers put together a stellar performance, moving out to a 32-22 lead by halftime and slowly pulling away over the final 20 minutes.
The job was done well at both ends of the floor as the Tigers shot 45.8 percent from the field and outrebounded the Little Giants 41-30. Wabash, which dropped a 50-45 decision to Wittenberg last month, was held to 29 percent from the field, including just 6-of-21 from three-point range.
Individually, junior Scott Masin (New Carlisle, Ohio/Bethel) dominated just as he did in the previous meeting, finishing with 13 points and 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the campaign. He led a balanced Wittenberg effort that featured 10 players with at least three points in the game, including junior Zack Leahy (Rossford, Ohio/Rossford) and senior Cam Walton (Waterville, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) with eight points apiece.