Wittenberg Preps For NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four In Salem, Va.
For an NCAA Division III-record seventh time, the Wittenberg University men's basketball team heads to the NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four, where the Tigers will face Amherst College at 6 p.m. Friday at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va. A berth in the national championship game, scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday, also in Salem, is at stake.
(From left) Billy Bowen, Pat Denbow, Mark Caraway and Jack Hemenway enjoy the Wittenberg send-off Wednesday in front of the HPER Center.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — For an NCAA Division III-record seventh time, the Wittenberg University men's basketball team heads to the NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four, where the Tigers will face Amherst College at 6 p.m. Friday at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va. A berth in the national championship game, scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday, also in Salem, is at stake.
Wittenberg moved into the national semifinals with a hard-fought 74-61 victory over Transylvania University last Saturday at home in the HPER Center, while the Lord Jeffs advanced with a 93-70 win over St. John Fisher College, also at home. The Tigers are the highest ranked team left in the NCAA Division III Tournament field at No. 3 in the final regular season d3hoops.com poll, while the Lord Jeffs are ranked No. 4.
The other national semifinal matches Illinois Wesleyan University and Virginia Wesleyan University at 8 p.m. Friday. Friday's games and Saturday's consolation game, scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off, will feature live video broadcasts on the Internet courtesy of d3hoops.com and Atlantic Penn. Saturday's championship game will be televised nationally on College Sports Television (CSTV). A link for the live video feed will be available on Thursday at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) Final Four Web site. Wittenberg's student radio station WUSO, will also provide a live audio webcast, with play-by-play man Scott Leo and junior Josh Cohick providing all the commentary.
A two-day ticket package (no individual game tickets will be sold prior to the day of the event) will cost $20 for adults and $10 for college-age students and younger. Wittenberg has held pre-sale sessions in the HPER Center each of the last two days, and fans will have one more opportunity to purchase tickets in the Wittenberg block from 3-7 p.m. in the HPER Center. One of the options is a fan bus for members of the Wittenberg community and a student bus. A travel package that includes the cost of the round trip bus ride, tickets for all four games and two nights lodging are available. For more information, contact Tooti Snider in the athletic office at (937) 327-6489.
The Wittenberg Tigers have had a lot to celebrate this season.
Wittenberg, with the most wins and highest winning percentage in NCAA Division III history, heads to Salem with an overall record of 29-3, primarily on the strength of the top scoring defense in all of NCAA Division III (54.3 points allowed per game) and the will of a phenomenal four-man senior class.
North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament champions for the second straight year, the Tigers have reached the national semifinals with victories over Lake Erie College (76-40), Baldwin-Wallace College (78-60), Hope College (56-49) and Transylvania, all at home. The "twin towers," senior posts Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) and Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) have led the way all season, averaging 28 points and 14 rebounds between them.
But this breakthrough national tournament run has been made possible by the emergence of an outstanding supporting cast, led by Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading), who leads the team with 16.8 points per game in the NCAA Division III Tournament, defensive stalwart Phil Steffes (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville), a senior wing who has started all 32 games this year, and freshman Gregg Hill (Redford, Mich./Union), who is averaging more than eight points per game off the bench in the last three weeks. The Tigers rank in the top 10 nationally in rebound margin, scoring margin and field goal percentage defense.
Amherst brings a balanced scoring attack and a sparkling 28-2 overall record to the table. The Lord Jeffs have broken the school record for wins in a season, and they rank among the national leaders in scoring offense (85.2 ppg), scoring margin (+20.7), field-goal percentage (49.8%), three-point field-goal percentage (41.4%), rebounding margin (+6.8), assists per game (18.8) and blocked shots per game (5.6).
Amherst has won 18 straight games, including three against Hamilton College (83-59), Tufts University (90-85 in overtime) and St. John Fisher in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Senior co-captain John Bedford (Ridgewood, NJ) leads the Lord Jeffs with 17.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while junior forward Dan Wheeler (Bloomington, Minn.), who is averaging 20.7 points and 6.3 rebounds over the last three outings, and sophomore guard Andrew Olson (San Diego, Calif.), who broke the school record for assists in a season, have continued their fine play.