Wittenberg Wins Key Regional Game Over Otterbein

WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers captured a hard-fought 65-53 road victory over the Otterbein Cardinals Monday and finished the nonconference portion of the 2004-05 schedule with a 3-0 record against in-region nonconference opponents - all three coming against Ohio Athletic Conference powerhouse programs on their home floors. The Tigers, ranked 24th in the nation, improved to 9-2 overall on the season as they closed out the nonconference portion of the schedule.

Otterbein, which had won five of the last six games in this long-running Central Ohio series, dropped to 7-4 overall. The Tigers' win avenged a disappointing 10-point setback a year ago on their home floor against the Cardinals.

Still playing without injured junior forward Kenny Brady, the Tigers once again were forced to come up with some creative frontcourt substitution patterns due to foul problems. Junior post Daniel Russ played just two minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls, and nightmares of an earlier foul-plagued overtime loss at Denison were conjured up just as quickly. But the Tigers kept the tempo in their favor, slowing the Cardinals, who score more than 75 points per game, in a halfcourt game and pounding their hosts on the boards, holding a commanding 39-23 advantage.

Otterbein held its only lead of the entire game at 5-4 less than three minutes into the game, but Wittenberg answered that with a six-point run. The game was tied on two other occasions, the last time at the 6:20 mark of the first half on a Kevin King lay-up that capped a 7-0 Cardinal run. The Tigers answered that with a three-pointer by senior wing Andy Bucheit and eased out to a four-point advantage by halftime. In the final 20 minutes, Wittenberg led the whole way and put the game in the win column with a clutch 13-5 game-ending run that widened a 52-48 margin into the final 13-point advantage.

Russ came back from the early foul trouble to lead the Tigers in scoring with 13 points, while fellow junior post player Dane Borchers added 11 points and 12 rebounds in 34 minutes as he ably picked up the slack. Bucheit added a fine all-around performance with 10 points and 10 rebounds, junior guard Phil Steffes had one of his best games with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, and senior guard Brett Bowen scored five points and grabbed two key second-half rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.

Otterbein picked up 14 points and four assists from Mark Church and 12 points, five rebounds from Scott Hadley in the loss. Both teams head right back into action Wednesday with key conference tilts, including Wittenberg's road trip to Kenyon. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.