Wittenberg Wallops Allegheny To Move Into NCAC Tournament Semifinals

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers took advantage of all of their usual match-up advantages Tuesday in the HPER Center, racing past visiting Allegheny College, 74-46. The win was Wittenberg's 45th in 46 all-time first round conference tournament games, and it advanced the fifth-ranked Tigers to Friday's North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals against Wabash College.

Wittenberg, which won both regular season meetings with the Little Giants, will tip off in the first game of a doubleheader Friday on Wooster's home floor. The start time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., and the Tigers/Little Giants tilt will be followed by top-seeded Wooster hosting fifth-seeded Earlham, a surprise winner at fourth-seeded Denison on Tuesday. The quarterfinal victory, Wittenberg's third of the season by a margin of approximately 30 points against Allegheny, improved the Tigers to 23-3 overall after finishing 14-2 in the NCAC regular season, good for second place.

The Gators kept things close for much of the first half, but Wittenberg put together a 10-0 run in just two minutes late in the first half to expand a 16-11 advantage to 26-11 and the rout was essentially on. The lead was 34-19 by halftime, and Allegheny never got any closer than 14 points in the final 20 minutes.

For Wittenberg, the usual suspects stood out on the statistics sheet, but it was a full squad effort that led to victory. Junior post Dane Borchers led all scorers with 21 points, as he hit 5-of-7 from the field and 11-of-12 from the free throw line, and he added four assists and three rebounds. Senior wing Andy Bucheit checked in with 15 points on five three-pointers (in seven attempts) and junior post Daniel Russ was outstanding with nine points and 15 boards, easily a game-high.

Allegheny got nine points off the bench from Larry Sharp and seven each from Justin Schmitt and Casey McCloskey. The Gators capped the 2004-05 season with an overall record of 8-17.