CHICAGO, Ill. — A night after giving up 46 points and 10 three-pointers in the first half of a season-opening loss to Benedictine, the Wittenberg Tigers bounced back to limit Kalamazoo to just 23 points and zero three-pointers in an 80-72 victory.
The win gave Wittenberg third place in the Wheaton College Lee Pfund Classic while evening its record on the 2007-08 season at 1-1. Kalamazoo, which lost to host Wheaton on Friday, dropped to 0-2.
The Tigers took a 35-23 lead into the locker room at halftime, not so much because of the their own offensive proficiency but in part due to their defensive performance, which forced Kalamazoo into 31 percent shooting, including an 0-for-8 from behind the three-point arc. The hole proved too deep for the Hornets, who rebounded for 49 points on 50 percent shooting from the field in the second half.
Wittenberg was held to 41 percent shooting in the game, including a 6-for-20 performance from three-point range, but the Tigers held on for the win thanks to vastly improved free throw shooting (22-of-30) and a 43-39 rebounding edge. Included in the latter number was a whopping 18 offensive rebounds.
Individually, the Tigers picked up a second straight career-high 24-point performance from junior guard Gregg Hill (Farmington Hills, Mich./Redford Union). Except for his 10 turnovers in the first two games, Hill has adjusted to the late training camp move to the point quite well as he made 9-of-18 from the field, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
Three other Tiger starters reached double figures in scoring as well, led by senior forward Sam Gregory (Gainesville, Fla./Oak Hall), who added a career-high 16 points in 23 productive minutes. Senior wing Brandan Barabino (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) contributed 13 points and senior wing Brandon White (Columbus, Ohio/Bexley) rounded things out with 10 tallies.
Also of note was the play of junior post Jeromy Romero (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes), who finished with six points and a team-best nine rebounds in 20 minutes.