Wittenberg Rebounds For Key Road Win Over Rival Ohio Northern

ADA, Ohio - Wittenberg's last two trips to Ada, Ohio, for men's basketball games were not successful in any way, shape or form, which makes Tuesday's 67-62 victory over Ohio Northern University all the more special. The Tigers, playing for the first time in 10 days after a surprising conference road loss at Denison on Dec. 11, were forced to come from behind in a tight second half before pulling out the solid road win.

The win moved the 24th-ranked Tigers to 6-2 overall on the still-young 2004-05 season, while the Polar Bears dropped to 5-5. After Ohio Northern captured a 20-point win over Wittenberg in the Round of 16 of the 2001 NCAA Division III Tournament and a 20-point in a regular season game in December 2002, the Tigers have now won the last two meetings, an 18-point decision in Springfield last year and this hard-fought five-point victory.

Wittenberg led by as many as nine points in a dominating first half and held a six-point advantage at halftime. However, Ohio Northern put together a big 19-9 run to start the second half to take the lead, which the Polar Bears extended to five points on a Phil Hoying jumper at the 9:39 mark. The Tigers responded with a clutch 8-0 run over the next two minutes, however, as junior post Daniel Russ stepped out and buried the game-tying three-pointer and senior wing Andy Bucheit put Wittenberg in front to stay with a triple on the ensuing possession with just over seven minutes to play.

Ohio Northern got the lead down to one point on two occasions in the waning moments, but Wittenberg held on. Russ finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, his second double-double of the season. He was joined in double figures by junior post Dane Borchers, who finished with 17 points and nine rebounds off the bench as the Tigers' starting lineup underwent a shuffle, and Bucheit, who chipped in with 10 points.

Hoying led all scorers with a career-high 20 points for ONU and guard Greg Badenhop added 16 points. Among several key statistics in the game was the rebounding margin, as Wittenberg held an eight-board advantage, and shooting percentage, as Wittenberg made 51 percent from the field for the game, compared to 46 percent for the Bears.

Wittenberg has another weeklong layoff thanks to the Christmas holiday before taking on Purdue-Calumet, one of three NAIA scholarship programs involved in the Kiwanis-Wittenberg Holiday Classic on Dec. 29-30. Walsh and Taylor play at 6 p.m. on Dec. 29 and Wittenberg hosts Purdue-Calumet in the nightcap. All of the men's action follows a pair of women's games at 1 and 3 p.m.