Wittenberg men's basketball:Tigers advance to Gettysburg finals

By From staff reports 12:15 AM Saturday, November 21, 2009

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — The Wittenberg men’s basketball team was hitting on all cylinders in its second game of the season, thumping Catholic University 70-45 in the opening round of the Gettysburg College Tip-Off Tournament on Friday, Nov. 20.

The win puts the Tigers in the title game at 4 p.m. today against Messiah.

Senior point guard David Nowicki led the way with 17 points, while Greg Hill added 11 points in a balanced Tigers scoring attack.

“Right from the get-go, (Nowicki) really jump-started us with some key jump shots,” said Witt coach Bill Brown. “And (Clayton) Black had 10 rebounds in the first half. That got us rolling.”

With Witt leading 18-15, the Tigers rattled off 13 of the next 15 points to go up 31-17 with 3:37 left in the first half. The Tigers led 35-23 at the half and scored nine of the first 11 points in the second half to seize control.

“I told the guys, ‘If we can just make the next five minutes count,’ the first five minutes of the second half, we could set the tone and say, ‘You are not going to come back on us,’” said Brown. “And we did play our best ball those first five minutes of the second half.”

After a tough 12-12 season last year, this quick start is refreshing.

“We’ve had a couple of tough years by Wittenberg’s standards, so it feels good to have a 2-0 start,” said Brown. “But you can’t feel too comfortable at this level. I’m hungry to win a championship tomorrow.”

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