Cooper’s late treys lift Witt

Senior hits 3 straight  3-pointers in final minutes in victory over DePauw.

Wittenberg's Alex Brandt (right) is guarded by DePauw's Tommy Fernitz during Wednesday's game at Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield. Staff Photo by Barbara J. Perenic

Barbara Perenic Wittenberg's Alex Brandt (right) is guarded by DePauw's Tommy Fernitz during Wednesday's game at Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield. Staff Photo by Barbara J. Perenic

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer 11:02 PM Wednesday, January 25, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — Wittenberg public address announcer Michael Cooper Sr. has always had a signature call on the microphone whenever his son Michael hits a shot.

“Michael Coooooper!” Cooper Sr. says.

Early in Wednesday’s game, he added something new when Michael scored.

“Michael ‘Boom Boom’ Coooooper!” he said.

It’s an old nickname, one Michael has had since he was little, and the senior from South High School lived up to it against DePauw, draining three straight 3-pointers in the final minutes to help Wittenberg beat DePauw 66-62 at Pam Evans Smith Arena.

“It felt good. I was kind of shooting it well in practice,” Cooper said. “After I hit the second one, I was just feeling it and putting it up. The guys were telling me to keep shooting. I was just trying to do whatever I could to help us win.”

The Tigers improved to 14-4 overall, and after playing every other team in the North Coast Athletic Conference, they are 8-1. They own a two-game lead over Wabash, DePauw, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster. They’re all 6-3. Ohio Wesleyan beat Wabash 66-64 Wednesday on a 3-pointer by Nick Felhaber with 13 seconds left.

The Tigers host Ohio Wesleyan (Feb. 1) and Wooster (Feb. 11) and visit Wabash (Feb. 8) and DePauw (Feb. 15) in the final seven NCAC games on the schedule.

DePauw, which was playing Wittenberg for the first time in NCAC play, nearly pulled into a first-place tie with its play in the final 6 minutes. The Tigers led 47-36 with 6:30 to go, but DePauw went on a 8-0 run in the next 2 minutes.

Then in a 79-second span, Cooper outscored DePauw 9-6, and the Tigers led 56-50 with 2:21 left. Cooper finished with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.

“His first two, we were patient; he was patient,” Wittenberg coach Bill Brown said. “We found him. They were tremendous looks. The third one, it wasn’t quite within the offense, but he was feeling it.”

Cooper’s performance came one game after he and the entire team struggled in a 65-51 loss at Hiram. Cooper made 3-of-14 shots in that game, and the team shot 28 percent.

“We knew we had to get back on track,” Cooper said. “Saturday was rough on all of us. Nothing’s been right since then. We needed to get back on track today, and we had good enthusiasm. It was a good team win.”

Zack Leahy and Clayton Black hit 10 straight free throws in the final minutes to secure the victory. Black scored 19 points and became the 32nd player in Wittenberg history to score 1,000 points in his career.

Wittenberg returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday at Oberlin.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or David.Jablonski@coxinc.com.

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