Tigers Advance To NCAC Semifinal With Convincing Win Over OWU

By: Jenn Ryan, '19

Springfield, OH– The Wittenberg's men's basketball team couldn't be stopped from an NCAC Tournament Quarterfinal victory on Tuesday night as the Tigers took down the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops, 73-51. The Tigers scored 36 points in the paint with 21 points coming from off the bench. Four Tigers finished in the double digits, including Connor Seipel, James Johnson, Jake Bertemes, and Levi Boettcher.

Seipel ended the game with his 15^th double-double of the season, scoring 29 points and picking up 13 rebounds. Johnson followed Seipel's lead with 12 points, four buckets and one 3-point goal.  

Game Breakdown

Johnson opened up the scoring of the game with a dunk and a foul, picking up the old-fashioned three. It took the Battling Bishops over seven minutes to get on the board, making it a 16-3 game. At the end of the half, Wittenberg led the Battling Bishops by a score of 36-20. Seipel led the team in scoring with 14, closely followed by Johnson adding seven. Seipel made 7 of 9 of his field goal attempts and pulled down four offensive rebounds. 

In the second half, Wittenberg dominated the scoreboard, scoring 11 points before the Battling Bishops put their first points on the board. Like the first half, Seipel's dominance didn't stop, scoring 15 points in the second half. Bertemes added five points throughout the second half, converting on 2 of 4 attempts from the floor. Boettcher added two three-pointers in the second half to add to the Tigers' lead. The Battling Bishops tried to play catch up throughout the second half, but couldn't come any closer to the Tigers' lead than 18. The Tigers regularly doubled the score against the Battling Bishops with scores of 34-17 and 60-30 throughout the course of the game. 

Who Stood Out 

Johnson's opening dunk started out his high-scoring night, making all three free throw attempts. Bertemes followed Johnson, making four of nine field goal attempts. He also made one three-pointer and both of his free throw attempts. Rounding out the four Tigers in the double digits, Boettcher came off the bench to make four of six field goal attempts and two of three-pointer attempts.

From The Bench  

Up Next

The Tigers will travel to Wooster, OH to take on Wabash on Friday, February 22 in the NCAC Tournament semifinal. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from Timken Gymnasium. This game will follow a 5:30 p.m. semi-final tip-off between Wooster and DePauw.

The winners of both semi-final action will play again at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 23^rd, 2019 at Wooster.