Wittenberg Holds Off Otterbein
Wittenberg got off to a big lead early and held off a second half comeback for a 60-43 non-conference win over Otterbein at the HPER Center Thursday night.
By Joe Clayton
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Wittenberg got off to a big lead early and held off a second half comeback for a 60-43 non-conference win over Otterbein at the HPER Center Thursday night.
After the Cardinals scored the first basket of the game, Daniel Russ scored the first six points in a run of eight straight and 17 of the next 21 to open up a 19-6 Wittenberg lead with 11:36 left the first half. Otterbein fought back to within 10 points at 21-11, before going cold from the field making just one field goal the rest of the half, as Wittenberg took a 31-16 lead at intermission. Dane Borchers led the Tigers by scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first half.
Cardinals forward Kevin King almost single handedly brought his team back into the game early in the second half. King, who had a team high 17 points, scored 10 straight Cardinal points and led a 6-0 run to bring Otterbein to within 36-28 with 11:56 left in the game.
But Wittenberg got back to back 3-point goals from Billy Bowen and Tyler Howard to spark a 12-3 run to put the Tigers up 48-31 with 8:38 left.
Borchers was 8 of 10 from the field and added eight rebounds to go along with his 18 points. Russ was the other Tiger in double figures with 11 points, nine of them in the first half.
King had 17 points and senior center Tyler Ousley added 14 for Otterbein.
Wittenberg, 8-1, now takes a week off for Christmas before returning to action by hosting the Charles B. Zimmerman Classic, Dec. 29-30 at the HPER Center. The Tigers will host St. Norbert in the first round on Thursday, Dec. 29. Otterbein, 3-6, returns to action on Dec. 29-30 by hosting the Smokey Ballenger "O"Club Classic.