Wittenberg Grinds Out Tough Win At Ohio Wesleyan

DELAWARE, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers, ranked 13th in the nation after an 18-point road win over arch-rival Wooster on Saturday, came on strong as the game wore on and eventually stopped Ohio Wesleyan on its home court, 61-49.

The key to the game was post play, as it usually is for the Tigers. Wittenberg held one of the North Coast Athletic Conference's top scorers, OWU's super sophomore Ben Chojnacki, to 17 points, about four below his average, and the Tigers pounded away on the offensive end with a combined 32 points and 26 rebounds from junior post players Dane Borchers and Daniel Russ.

The Tigers improved to 14-2 overall and 6-1 in the NCAC and kept pace with conference co-leaders Wabash and Wooster with the win. Ohio Wesleyan fell to 8-8 overall and 4-3 in the conference. It was win No. 101 for Wittenberg in 142 all-time meetings with the Battling Bishops, the most wins for Wittenberg against single opponent.

Wittenberg trailed for much of the first half as Ohio Wesleyan hit 7-of-16 shots from three-point range, accounting for 21 of the Bishops' 27 points in the opening stanza. Only a late run by the Tigers, with Chojnacki and his partner in the post Dustin Rudegair on the bench with three fouls each, was enough to push Wittenberg to a five-point advantage by the intermission.

But the second half was all Tigers. Russ and Borchers continued to score and rebound almost at will, despite the fact that the OWU post players were on the floor throughout, eventually finishing with gaudy totals of 14 points and 11 rebounds for Russ and 18 points and 15 boards for Borchers. Playing their customary 10-man rotation, the Tigers wore OWU down, allowing just 22 second-half points, including a 1-of-12 performance from three-point range.

Senior guard Kenny Molz added eight points, including a big basket late on a clear-out that all but sealed the victory, and junior wing Kenny Brady added six points, both on first-half three-pointers, and five rebounds.

Wittenberg is back in action on Saturday at Hiram, the final game of a tough three-game, 10-day string of road games. After that, the Tigers are home for four of five games, starting with a Jan. 26 date with the Earlham College Quakers.