Wittenberg men dominate Little Giants - Springfield News Sun

By David Jablonski, Staff Writer Updated 7:12 AM Thursday, January 19, 2012

SPRINGFIELD â€" Sometimes in sports you throw up your hands and say, “You never know.”

A week ago, Michael Duffy seemed destined to be a witness from the bench to this Wittenberg men’s basketball season, the lone senior without a significant role. On Wednesday, he played 19 minutes and, even without scoring, seemed to make the Tigers better in every one of them.

A year ago, the Tigers beat Wabash two out of three times and secured both victories in the final seconds. Everyone expected something close to that this time.

Instead, the No. 21 Tigers dominated the last 25 minutes, led by as many as 25 points in the second half and beat the No. 16 Little Giants 61-43 at Pam Evans Smith Arena.

“We got caught ball-watching a few times,” said Duffy, a 5-foot-10 guard from Olentangy High School in Lewis Center, “but other than that I thought it was one of our most complete games, if not our most complete.”

The Tigers (13-3 overall) won their eighth straight game, improving to 7-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. They now lead Wabash, Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw by two games and Wooster by three games.

Wabash, which started the season 9-0, shot 4-of-22 from 3-point range. From the 5:31 mark of the first half to the 14:55 mark of the second half, Wittenberg outscored Wabash 19-2, turning a 21-20 lead into a 40-22 rout.

“I don’t want to take anything away from our guys because from the 5-minute mark in the first half on we were very good, but nobody expected this margin,” Wittenberg coach Bill Brown said. “We did some very positive things. They missed some shots. We didn’t play very well for the first 15 minutes, but from that point, we got a real spark.”

The Tigers switched to a zone defense midway through the first half, and that seemed to fluster Wabash. The Little Giants settled for outside shots, while Wittenberg attacked the basket. The Tigers made 18-of-29 free throws, and Wabash made 3-of-5.

“Some people will look at the disparity in free throws, but it’s all because we got the ball around the basket via the pass to our big guys and the drive,” Brown said. “(Wabash wasn’t) as aggressive tonight, and thus they didn’t get to the free-throw line.”

Clayton Black led the Tigers with 16 points. Michael Cooper had eight points, and Josh McKee had seven.

Wittenberg also got good production off the bench. Zack Leahy scored 13. Cam Walton had six points, hitting 2-of-3 3-pointers.

Wittenberg visits Hiram at 4 p.m. Saturday.

“We’re definitely happy with the win, but we’ve got to get ready for Hiram,” Duffy said. “Our senior class hasn’t beat them (at Hiram) yet.”