Rally Falls Short As Tigers Drop 69-62 Decision To Wooster

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - In the end, the hole was just a bit too deep. The Wittenberg Tigers narrowed a 19-point gap to three points late in the game but couldn't get over the hump in a 69-62 loss to visiting Wooster in a battle of top 10 teams at Pam Evans Smith Arena.

The second-ranked Scots won their fourth straight in the bitter rivalry between the teams with the most victories in NCAA Division III history, and more importantly moved two games clear of Wittenberg, Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw at the midway point of the 2013-14 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) title chase. Wooster is now 14-1 overall and 8-0 in the league, while the ninth-ranked Tigers have lost two in a row to fall to 12-3 overall and 6-2 in the NCAC.

The key to the game was the tremendous play of Wooster's guard tandem of Doug Thorpe and Xavier Brown, who each scored 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting. It wasn't their offensive efficiency, however, that stood out - it was their defensive pressure that led to a whopping 20 Wittenberg turnovers in the game, including 12 over the opening 20 minutes as the Scots built what turned out to be an insurmountable 34-19 lead by halftime.

Wittenberg held a 13-8 lead at the 11:25 mark of the first half when Wooster called a timeout. The Scots proceeded to end the half on a 26-6 run that they extended to a 19-point lead three minutes into the second half.

The Tigers, who came from 22 points down in the second half to beat Ohio Wesleyan on Jan. 8, showed some fight at that point, putting together a nine-point run to get back into the game. But the Scots came up with the big shots when they needed them most as Kenny DeBoer and Thorpe drained clutch three-pointers on back-to-back possessions and Wooster hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:44 to secure the victory.

Wittenberg finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field, including a 54 percent clip over the final 20 minutes. Wooster hit 40 percent, but the Scots also converted 21-of-25 from the free throw line to overcome a 36-25 rebounding deficit.

The Tigers were paced by senior Scott Masin (New Carlisle, Ohio/Bethel), who finished with 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line to go along with seven rebounds. Wittenberg got a tremendous spark off the bench from a pair of freshmen as post Brock Kiesler (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) contributed 11 points and three rebounds in 19 minutes and wing Shane Edwards (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) added eight points, three assists and a game-high nine rebounds in 24 minutes.