SPRINGFIELD, Ohio—Wittenberg men's basketball continued their longest home stand of the year on Thursday afternoon with a non-conference tilt against the Student Princes from Heidelberg University. The Student Princes entered Thursday's game at 6-4, as the team's staff has multiple connections to the rich tradition of Wittenberg men's basketball. Despite the Student Princes constant pressure and ability to press the entire 40 minutes of action, Wittenberg stayed calm, cool and collected, jumping out to a 14 points lead early on. Despite the big lead early, Wittenberg was outrebounded in the second half as Heidelberg was able to pull within two points on multiple occasions. In the end, the Tigers did what they had to do at the foul line, dispatching the Student Princes 77-72.

GAME NOTES

• With 4:35 remaining in the first half, a Ryan Gallimore jumper from the elbow put the Tigers up 14 at 34-20.
• The Tigers were up 12 in the final seconds of the first half, before Heidelberg cut the lead to ten points with a buzzer beating jump-shot as time expired.
• Coming out of the break leading 38-28, Wittenberg struck first with a Shane Edwards layup through contact found the bottom of the net, while the senior converted the free throw to put the Tigers up 41-28.
• Heidelberg would not go away, as the Student Princes pulled within two points at 66-64 after a made jumper with 4:34 remaining in regulation.
• With 1:04 left in the game, Chad Roy took control in the paint, notching a made banked-layup off of a slick post-move on the baseline.
• Down the stretch for the Tigers, senior point guard Cody Phillippi iced the Student Princes with his clutch free throw shooting.

KEY STATS

• Despite winning the rebounding war by one going into halftime, the Tigers were outrebounded in the second half and in the game, 43-33.
• Free throw shooting was a big component of Thursday non-confernce tilt, as both teams managed to find players in foul trouble, combing for a total of 47 fouls.
• Wittenberg found nine players in the scoring column, as freshman Connor Seipel scored a quick 12 points in the first half on his way to 14 for the game.

UP NEXT

• Wittenberg returns to action on December 29 against Geneva at 7:00PM as a part of the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic.
• FULL CLASSIC SCHEDULE AND INFO