Springfield, OH – The Wittenberg Tiger men's basketball team suffered a tough road loss to the Tigers of DePauw University, 75-67. Wittenberg was able to grab a 34-31 advantage at the break, shooting nearly 48 percent from the floor on the half. DePauw was able to outscore Wittenberg 44-33 in the final 20 minutes of regulation with both teams shooting over 50 percent from the floor. Wittenberg was led by senior Landon Martin with 20 points on 6 of 11 from the floor, converting 8 of 13 attempts from the free -throw line. Daniel Asher worked an efficient 5 of 7 night from the floor, finishing with 12 points.
Wittenberg fought back to tie things up at 12-12 off the Martin turnaround jumper with just over 13 minutes left in the first half. Levi Boettcher gave Wittenberg their first lead of the night, converting the layup and putting the visiting Tigers ahead 14-12. After exchanging baskets, Wittenberg would take a 20-16 lead of the Brice Hill triple. Wittenberg would regain the lead with nearly two minutes remaining in the half, scores from Harrison Gough, Josh Tolliver and Rashaad Ali-Shakir would give Wittenberg the 34-31 advantage at the break.
Wittenberg fought their way back in late in the half with under six minutes remaining, as Asher converted the layup to cut DePauw's lead to 60-58. Wittenberg was down one,62-61, after Young hit a three at the 3:40 mark. This would be as close as Wittenberg would get to overtaking DePauw in the second half.
NCAC LEADERS
The Tigers currently have two of the top three sharpshooters on their team in Young and Tolliver. Young leads the North Coast Athletic Conference in three-point shooting percentage at 52.1 with Tolliver holding down the third spot at 47.4. Tolliver and Young also land at third and fourth in the NCAC for field goal shooting percentage, with Martin working his way into the top five at 54.2. Martin sits on the cusp of the top five in scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game.
UP NEXT
Wittenberg will travel to Allegheny College on Saturday, February 12 to take on the Gators. Tip-off is set for 2:00 PM.