Tigers Go Cold In Second Half Of Loss At Hiram

HIRAM, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers faded after a strong start, losing to host Hiram by a final score of 65-59.

The loss was Wittenberg's fourth in a row and dropped the Tigers to 3-10 overall. More importantly, Wittenberg is now 1-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), while Hiram improved to 8-5 overall and 2-4 in the league.

Things started off well enough for Wittenberg, which jumped out to a 27-15 lead late in the first half, but the Terriers turned the tables with a big run heading into the intermission to close the gap to 32-28. Over the final 20 minutes, Wittenberg's offensive struggles returned as the Tigers managed to make just 8-of-27 shots from the field, compared to 52.4 percent for Hiram.

Still, Wittenberg held a lead as late as the 7:30 mark, when Hiram's JJ Woodson made a lay-up to give the Terriers their first lead since the opening minutes. From there, Wittenberg managed just 2-of-7 shooting and committed four costly turnovers.

The Tigers were paced offensively by sophomore Cody Phillippi (Xenia, Ohio/Xenia) with 20 points and five steals, while sophomore Jaelin Williams (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) added 10 points. Junior Alex Fultz (Batavia, Ohio/Glen Este) came off the bench to snare a team-high six rebounds.

For the game, Hiram shot 50 percent from the field, while Wittenberg finished at 40 percent. Wittenberg held a narrow 33-32 advantage in rebounds, while Hiram committed three more turnovers in the game.

Written By: Ryan Maurer