Springfield, OH – The Wittenberg Tiger Men's Basketball team survived a North Coast Athletic Conference battle with the Terriers from Hiram College, splitting the season series with a thrilling overtime win, 85-78. Wittenberg found themselves trailing with less than five minutes to go in regulation, 63-57.

With 80 seconds on the clock, trailing by six, Trey Killens takes the Hiram turnover coast-to-coast, cutting the Terrier lead to four, 69-65. Killens made a pair of free throws, cutting the Hiram lead down to two, 69-67. It was the Tiger senior, Levi Boettcher, collecting the missed free throw rebound with one second remaining and earning the foul, with Wittenberg trailing 71-69. Boettcher would go to the line, converting both free throws, forcing the overtime period.

The overtime period was all Wittenberg, as the Tigers outscored the Terriers 14-7. Wittenberg earned their way to the foul line, knocking down 12 of 16 from the stripe.

Leading the way for the Tiger scoring effort, Jerry Saunders Jr. tallied 25 points. Saunders Jr. converted on 6 of 9 from the floor, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. Killens finished the day with 19 points, adding five rebounds and two steals. Cameron Harrison filled up the bucket in the first half, scoring all 14 of his points in the first 20-minutes of action. Josh Tolliver finished just one-point shy of a double-double. Tolliver grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds with nine points.

UP NEXT

Wittenberg will return to action on Wednesday, January 25, traveling to DePauw University. Tip from Greencastle is set for 6:00 pm.