Witt’s lead in NCAC trimmed to 1 game

Loss at Wabash sets up showdown for first against Wooster.

Photos: Wittenberg 2011-2012 Men's Basketball
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Staff Reports Updated 11:20 AM Friday, February 10, 2012

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. — The worst-case scenario unfolded Wednesday night for the Wittenberg men’s basketball team as it lost 55-49 at Wabash, and Wooster won 54-50 at Ohio Wesleyan.

The Tigers’ two-game lead in the North Coast Athletic Conference was trimmed to one game, with the No. 13 Scots (19-3, 10-3 NCAC) visiting No. 22 Wittenberg (17-5, 11-2 NCAC) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Three games remain in the regular season. Wittenberg plays at DePauw and hosts Hiram next week.

“I’d like to win all three of these games, but we just need to win two home games and we can be league champions,” Wittenberg coach Bill Brown said. “You’ve just got to move on and not cry over spilled milk and play with great spirit and maybe shoot with more confidence.”

Wabash avenged an earlier 61-43 loss at Wittenberg. In that game, it hit just 4-of-22 3-pointers.

On Wednesday, the Little Giants came out firing on target. They hit 6-of-12 3-pointers in the first half and led by as many as 11 points before Wittenberg rallied to cut the deficit to 26-19 at halftime.

Wittenberg went on a 9-2 run to start the second half and tied the game at 28-28. Wittenberg led 39-38 with 9:20 to go, thanks to a four-point play by Josh McKee. That finished off a 10-point run by McKee, who scored all of his points in 73 seconds.

Wabash had nine points in that short stretch as well and pulled ahead for good with 9:08 left. Andy Walsh led the Little Giants with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and Derek Bailey had 15.

“Walsh made three 3s in the second half, and they were all very untimely for us,” Brown said. “None of them were particularly easy looks.”

Alex Brandt led the Tigers with 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Wittenberg hit 3-of-17 from 3-point range and 10-of-19 from the free throw line. Clayton Black was held to a season-low five points.

“It was an extremely physical game,” Brown said. “At some point, that impacts your ability to get the ball to the basket. I’m sure we could have been more patient at times and gotten him more touches or touches in a little better position to score.”

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