Wittenberg Hits 20-Win Mark With Win Over Earlham

RICHMOND, Ind. - It didn't end up being quite the blowout it at first appeared, but the Wittenberg Tigers took care of business with a 78-54 victory at Earlham College.

After leading by as many as 24 points in the first half and 32 points early in the second half, the Tigers struggled a bit down the stretch against a scrappy bunch of Quakers. Still, the sixth-ranked team in NCAA Division III and the top-ranked team in the Great Lakes Region improved to 20-2 overall and 12-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference with the win. Wittenberg won for the 15th straight time heading into the biggest game of the 2004-05 season at home Saturday against third-ranked Wooster, the NCAC co-leader.

Already guaranteed its 36th straight winning season (48th straight non-losing season), Wittenberg improved its all-time record against Earlham to 52-13, including 10 straight wins in the last five seasons. The Tigers reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth straight year and the ninth time in Head Coach Bill Brown's 12 seasons at the helm.

Wittenberg jumped out to a huge lead with a balanced, fundamentally sound zone offense and stifling, aggressive defense. After leading by as much as 24, the Tigers settled into the locker room at halftime with a commanding 40-18 margin. In the second half, the lead stretched to 32 points before the play became a bit choppy with many reserves in the game. Earlham pushed the lead down under 20 points before the Tigers finally finished up strong and pushed it out to the final 24-point margin.

Wittenberg is ranked first in the nation in rebounding margin at 13.1 per game, thanks in part to the twin towers, junior post players Daniel Russ and Dane Borchers. They were outstanding again on Wednesday with 10 rebounds between them, but the choppy play in the scrappy Quakers still became the first team all season to even the score on the boards as the two teams split 68 rebounds evenly. Part of the reason the Tigers gather so many rebounds is they force so many errant shots from their opponents as they also lead the nation in team defense and have held all but one opponent under 60 points since losing 89-79 in double overtime at Denison on Dec. 11. Earlham had no better success as the Quakers hit just 22 percent from the field in the first half and 28 percent for the game.

Offensively, Wittenberg spread the wealth as senior wing Andy Bucheit drained four first-half three-pointers en route to a team-high 17 points to lead four double-figures scorers. Borchers added 15 and Russ and junior wing Kenny Brady both finished with 14 tallies.

Earlham, which fell to 8-14 overall and 6-7 in the NCAC, picked up 17 points from Brandon Miller and 14 from LaRon Henry in the loss.