Springfield, OH – The Wittenberg Men's Basketball team returned to Pam Evans Smith Arena for their NCAC home opener, taking down the DePauw University Tigers, with the wire-to-wire 77-69 win. Wittenberg finished with four players posting double figures, led by James Johnson with a season-high 22 points. Johnson converted on 9 of 15 attempts from the floor, knocking down 4 of 5 shots from beyond the three-point arc. Levi Boettcher put together his best offensive performance through the early going, logging 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting, adding five rebounds. Leading the rebounding effort with nine boards, Ridge Young had a perfect night from the floor and the free-throw line, tallying 13 points with six coming from the charity stripe. Landon Martin tallied 11 points for the Tiger offense, dishing out four assists.

Wittenberg owned a 39-25 lead at the half, converting on 14 of 29 from the floor, including 7 of 11 from beyond the arc. The Red and White were led by senior Johnson with eight first-half points, converting on 3 of 6 from the floor, knocking down 2 of 3 from deep range. Wittenberg extended their lead out to as many as 17 points in the first-half, putting together a nine-point run to close out the first 20-minutes of action. The Red and White held visiting DePauw to just 31 percent shooting from the field through the first half. Wittenberg was able to force 18 DePauw turnovers, taking advantage of 13 second-chance points. As a unit, Wittenberg put together a 48 percent night from the floor, converting on 26 of 54 attempts from the field, including 11 of 21 from deep. The Red and White were able to withstand the late pressure by DePauw as the visiting Tigers found their stride a little too late in the second half, putting together a 56 percent shooting clip.

NCAC LEADERS

Martin has moved into the top five scorers in the conference, averaging 17.2 points per game. Johnson  ranks third amongst the NCAC leaders in rebounds, averaging 7.2 per contest. The Tigers have two players in the top five for field goal percentage, represented by Young and Boettcher. Loading up the top 5 in three-point shooting percentage, Young, Boettcher and Johnson all rank amongst the NCAC's best sharpshooters.

UP NEXT

Wittenberg will return to action on Saturday, December 11, traveling to Wabash College at 2:00 PM.