Wittenberg Reaches Mid-Point of NCAC Schedule Unbeaten After Win Over Hiram
It was pretty much the type of win everyone expected. But Saturday's 91-49 victory for the Wittenberg men's basketball team over the visiting Hiram College Terriers will go down as important anyway.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - It was pretty much the type of win everyone expected. But Saturday's 91-49 victory for the Wittenberg men's basketball team over the visiting Hiram College Terriers will go down as important anyway.
That's because it was win No. 300 in Wittenberg Head Coach Bill Brown's career. Prior to the 2003-04 season, just 52 active NCAA Division III head coaches had 300 wins or more, putting Brown in elite company. Brown's career record is now 300-159 in 17 seasons, including 11 at Wittenberg, five at Kenyon and one at Wooster. His record at Wittenberg is a sparkling 240-60, including this season's 14-3. The win also moved the Tigers as a team to 8-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, while the Terriers dropped to 4-13 and 2-6 in the NCAC.
On Saturday, the outcome was in doubt for just a short time. After Hiram's A.J. White tied the game with a three-pointer at the 16:25 mark of the first half, Wittenberg went on a 15-0 run and never looked back. The extended to as much as 30 points before halftime and it got as high as 43 points with 9:24 left in the game. After that, the benches for both teams took over.
Wittenberg put forth an extremely balanced offensive attack, with five players reaching double figures. Among the starting unit, no one played more than 20 minutes and as a group they wound up with just two turnovers in the game. Sophomore Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading) led the way with 15 points, senior Peter Walker (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds, senior Rod Emmons (South Bend, Ind./John Adams) chipped in with 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals, and sophomore Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) checked in with seven points, four rebounds and three assists. Rounding out the starting five was junior point guard Danny Brywczynski (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont), who has been outstanding of late. He finished with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field (3-of-3 from three-point range), a season-high five assists and two rebounds.
Hiram picked up 14 points from White and 12 points and five rebounds from Carlton Dean. DaJuan Whiteside was high man in the game with eight rebounds.