• NCAC Tournament Central
• Bracket

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio-- #6 Wittenberg men's hoops secured the #1 seed in the 2018 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament with a 78-77 overtime win over The College of Wooster last Saturday. The Tigers claimed the regular season NCAC crown with that win, and finished the regular season 23-2 (14-2). As the #1 seed in the tournament, the Tigers now play host on February 20 to the Yeomen of Oberlin, the #8 seed in this year's tournament. Wittenberg and Oberlin are set to tip-off from Pam Evans Smith Arena at 8:00 P.M. tomorrow night.

HOW WE GOT HERE

• NCAC coaches voted Wittenberg to finish third in the preseason poll. The Tigers didn't enter the national rankings until Jan. 1. From there Wittenberg has climbed from No. 17 to No. 10 to No. 5 to No. 3 and most recently back to No. 6 in the D3Hoops.com poll.
• 22 in a row served as Wittenberg's first double-digit win streak since 2013-14 when they won 11 games in a row, a season that saw the Tigers finish 21-8.
• Before running the table in NCAC regular season play, the Tigers opened the year with non-conference wins against Mount St. Joseph, Birmingham-Southern, Capital and Otterbein.
• Wittenberg's win against Capital came at the buzzer on a baseball style pass from Rashaad Ali-Shakir to Jacob Bertemes. Bertemes' layup at the buzzer gave the Tigers the game, as the sophomore's late theatrics have helped the Tigers come up big on the back-end of games all season.
• Wittenberg managed to get a bit of a monkey off their backs on January 13 as the Tigers stood tall in an 86-75 win at Wooster, snapping their seven-game skid at Timken Gymnasium.
• Prior to the January 13th win, a game that featured a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double from Jordan Pumroy, the Tigers last win at Wooster came on a buzzer-beater from former Tiger star Zach Leahy in 2011.
• Wittenberg went on to return the favor at Pam Evans Smith Arena, as the Tigers beat Wooster 78-77 in an instant classic. The overtime thriller featured three late Tiger comebacks at the hands of Bertemes.

 OBERLIN

• Oberlin finished the year 12-13, including 65-78 and 56-77 losses to Wittenberg.
• The Yeomen finished 6-12 in NCAC play with wins over Wabash, Allegheny, Denison, Kenyon and DePauw.
• Eli-Loyd Silverman enters as the Yeomen's leading scorer at 14.6 points per-game, and is the reigning NCAC Player of the Week.

NCAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY

• This is Wittenberg's 29^th NCAC tournament appearance.
• The Tigers are 44-21 all-time in tournament play, including six tournament championships.
• Wittenberg is 22-2 overall at home in quarterfinal play, 6-2 overall in semifinal play at home, and 3-2 all-time in NCAC Championship games at home.
• 2005-06 serves as the last NCAC Tournament Championship for Wittenberg; a 71-69 win over Wooster at Wooster.

2018 TOURNEY NOTES

• The Winner of #1 Wittenberg and #8 Oberlin will play the winner of #4 Hiram and #5 Denison at the highest remaining seed's home-site.
• The other side of the bracket features #3 OWU vs. #6 Wabash and #2 Wooster vs. #7 DePauw.
• Semifinal action is set for 5:30 P.M. and 7:30 P.M. on Friday night, with the 2018 NCAC Championship game set for 4:00 P.M. on Saturday, February 24.