Tigers Go Cold In Tourney Title Game Loss To Taylor

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – For just the fourth time in 29 mid-season tournaments hosted by Wittenberg men's basketball, the Tigers were unable to secure the first-place trophy after falling 49-42 to Taylor in the 2012 Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic championship game.

The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Tigers, who dropped to 8-3 overall on the 2012-13 season. It also snapped a three-year win streak in the Zimmerman Classic, dating back to 2008 and a first round loss also to Taylor, an NAIA scholarship program that improved to 10-5.

Wittenberg and Taylor have met four times in the last nine Zimmerman Classics, with the two teams now even at 2-2. The Tigers defeated the Trojans in the 2004 and 2010 championship games.

Cold-shooting was the primary culprit for the Tigers in the 2012 title match-up as they managed just 30 percent shooting from the field, including a paltry 3-of-18 from three-point range. At the other end of the floor, Taylor wasn't much better from inside the arc, making just 6-of-23 of its two-pointers. But the Trojans knocked down 10-of-24 from three-point range, including 5-of-14 by Tournament MVP Casey Coons.

After trailing by as many 13 points in the second half, the Tigers rallied to within two points on a three-pointer by sophomore Sam Collins (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) with 1:27 remaining. Taylor's Nate Kasper responded with a lay-up 23 seconds later, and the Trojans closed the game out with 5-of-6 shooting from the free throw line over the final 34 seconds.

Collins led the Tigers with 15 points and five rebounds, while junior Scott Masin (New Carlisle, Ohio/Bethel) turned in another workmanlike performance to finish with 14 hard-earned points to go along with 10 rebounds. For the game, Wittenberg outrebounded Taylor 41-28.