SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers' path to the No. 4 seed and a home game in the 2015 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament unfolded perfectly in the closing weeks of the season, but the Hiram Terriers spoiled the Senior Recognition Day party with a come-from-behind 55-53 victory.
The loss dropped the Tigers into a fifth-place tie in the final NCAC regular season standings with Allegheny at 8-10. Wittenberg will be the No. 5 seed in the NCAC Tournament by virtue of tiebreaker criteria, but the Tigers missed out on a golden opportunity to be the No. 4 seed, which would have been theirs with a win and a fourth-place tie with DePauw.
Instead, Wittenberg will now make the trip to DePauw on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for an NCAC Tournament quarterfinal round game. The Tigers have beaten DePauw twice during the 2014-15 season and won a quarterfinal game at DePauw a year ago as well.
Things started off well enough for Wittenberg, which jumped out to a 37-27 halftime lead, thanks in large part to 6-of-9 shooting from three-point range, capped by a triple by sophomore Jaelin Williams (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) with seven seconds remaining. The Tigers stretched the advantage to 14 points on a three-pointer by sophomore Cody Phillippi (Xenia, Ohio/Xenia) with 10:45 left in the game.
From there, it was all Hiram as the Tigers were held to a meager six points the rest of the way. The Terriers chipped away at the lead and finally took their first lead since the opening minutes on a three-pointer by Josh Edmondson with 11 seconds left. Wittenberg was unable to get a shot off on its final possession.
Williams led the Tigers with 13 points and six rebounds in the game, while Phillippi added nine points off the bench, all on three-pointers. For the game, Wittenberg shot 42.2 percent from the field, including an 8-of-20 showing from three-point range, compared to 46 percent for Hiram.
Wittenberg won the rebounding battle 33-26, but the Tigers committed 15 costly turnovers, compared to 10 for Hiram. The Terriers finished the game with 17 points off turnovers - seven more than Wittenberg.
Before the game, Wittenberg honored three seniors: Ben Bowen (Arcadia, Ind./Hamilton Heights), John Albertson (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) and Sam Collins (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights).
Written By: Ryan Maurer