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SPRINGFIELD — The Ohio Athletic Conference has not been kind to Wittenberg in recent months.
Ohio Northern routed the football team 37-14 in November in the first round of the playoffs. Two of the basketball team’s four losses have come at the hands of OAC teams, 80-56 at Capital on Nov. 23 and 78-64 at Otterbein on Dec. 22.
The Tigers’ next chance to reverse the trend comes today when they host Ohio Northern (6-9) at 3 p.m. at Pam Evans Smith Arena. It’s an especially important game for the two football players who play basketball, Michael Cooper and Josh McKee.
“I know we’ve got the football team behind us,” Wittenberg senior guard Chris Sullivan said. “Coop’s gunning for them; McKee, too. They’ve been talking about them all week in practice.”
McKee, who would normally be in the starting lineup with Cooper, is still out indefinitely as he recovers from an illness. Even his presence on the bench in the last week has helped the team, head coach Bill Brown and assistant coach Travis Schwab both said.
Wittenberg has won six games in a row, improving to 10-4, and it would like to continue to build momentum by winning today because the most important week of the season looms. The Tigers play two North Coast Athletic Conference teams ranked in the top 10 in the D3Hoops.com poll, hosting No. 7 Wabash on Wednesday and traveling to No. 1 Wooster on Jan. 22.
“We want to get a win going into the Wabash game,” Sullivan said. “That’s going to help the confidence a little bit.”
Sullivan is coming off one of his best games of the season. He scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from 3-point range in a 90-82 victory over Kenyon on Wednesday. It was a season-high scoring output for the team, which shot better than 50 percent from long range for the third time in five games.
“You just get open shots, and it feels right going off,” Sullivan said. “Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. It did the other night.”
Who: Ohio Northern University (6-9) at Wittenberg University (10-4)
When: 3 p.m. today
Where: Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield
Radio: WUSO-FM (89.1)
Series: Wittenberg leads 55-22.
Last meeting: Wittenberg won 61-59 on Dec. 19, 2009.
Last game: On Wednesday, Wittenberg beat Kenyon 90-82, and ONU lost to Wilmington 70-63.
Starting lineups
Wittenberg Yr. Ht. Pos. PPG
Steven Newell Fr. 6-0 G 5.2
Chris Sullivan Sr. 5-9 G 16.3
Michael Cooper Jr. 6-4 W 5.0
Alex Brandt Jr. 6-7 P 7.4
Clayton Black Jr. 6-7 F 16.9
Ohio Northern Yr. Ht. Pos. PPG
Scott Schnelle Jr. 6-9 C 14.5
Joe Staley Fr. 6-3 F 11.2
Branden Rushton Fr. 6-2 G 10.2
Taylor Kuhlman So. 6-1 G 9.1
Tony Meyer So. 5-11 G 8.6
About Wittenberg
The Tigers have made 10 or more 3-pointers in five games this season and three times in the last five games. ... Seth Hill scored a season-high 12 points off the bench against Kenyon. Newell also had a season-high 10 points in the game.
About Ohio Northern
The Polar Bears have lost six of their last seven games. The lone victory in that stretch came against Allegheny, 72-60 on Dec. 29. They have played one other NCAC team, losing 67-53 to Wooster on Nov. 27. ... ONU is in seventh place in the OAC at 3-6. The team has lost five games by five points or less.
Women’s game
The Wittenberg women’s team plays at Kenyon at 2 p.m. today. After losing to Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday, the Tigers are 7-7 overall and 2-2 in the NCAC. Kenyon is 9-6 and 3-1 in the NCAC.
— David Jablonski, staff writer
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