Wittenberg Drubs Kenyon, 76-28
For the 80th time in 89 meetings, the Wittenberg Tigers captured a victory over the Kenyon Lords, this time by a final score of 76-28. It was the 18th straight time the Tigers had defeated the Lords, dating back to a loss in February 1994 that ironically ended Wittenberg's perfect season in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - For the 80th time in 89 meetings, the Wittenberg Tigers captured a victory over the Kenyon Lords, this time by a final score of 76-28. It was the 18th straight time the Tigers had defeated the Lords, dating back to a loss in February 1994 that ironically ended Wittenberg's perfect season in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.
With the win, its fifth straight since a stunning 89-79 double overtime setback at Denison on Dec. 11, 24th-ranked Wittenberg improved to 10-2 overall and 2-1 in the NCAC. Kenyon dropped to 2-10 overall and 1-2 in conference action. The margin of victory was the largest ever in the series between the two teams, one that amazingly includes a 45-3 Wittenberg win in 1921 and several other Tiger wins of 40 points or more.
Wittenberg scored 14 of the game's first 16 points and never looked back, reaching what turned out to be the magical 28-point plateau at the 8:32 mark of the first half on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Billy Bowen. At that point, the lead was 28-11 and it stretched to 40-14 by halftime and, thanks to a 6-0 game-ending run, to its final 48-point margin.
The Tigers put all 16 players in uniform into the game and 13 of them scored, including junior forward Kenny Brady, who scored four points in five minutes - his first substantial game action of the season due to a lingering ankle injury. Brady, a second-team All-NCAC honoree a year ago, has missed all but six minutes of this season's action. Junior post Daniel Russ led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds in just seven minutes of action. Also of note was the bench play of Bowen, who finished with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field (including three 3-pointers), and junior guard Phil Steffes, who added eight points and eight rebounds.
Kenyon's top scorer was Chris Willoughby with nine points off the bench. The Lords were outrebounded 52-33 for the game, committed twice as many turnovers as the Tigers and were harrassed into a 20 percent shooting performance, including just 5-of-28 in the second half alone.