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Home > Blogs > Springfield, Ohio High School Sports > Archives > 2009 > February > 17 > Entry
On this date in area sports history …
Eight years ago on this date, Feb. 17, 2001, the Wittenberg men’s basketball team ended Wooster’s 44-game home winning streak. Complete story on the jump.
WITTENBERG POWERS UP FOR NCAC TITLE
ENDS WOOSTER’S HOME WIN STREAK
By KEITH WALTHER, News-Sun Sports Writer
WOOSTER — This was smash-mouth football, basketball-style. Pure power in the paint.
The Wittenberg Tigers had their way with top-ranked Wooster Saturday night, using a 58-25 rebounding margin to blow away the Scots, 94-80, and claim the North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season title.
Adding to the memories was the fact that the victory snaps the longest home win streak in all of college basketball (44 games) and halts Wooster’s run of three consecutive NCAC titles. And Wittenberg, the last team to beat the Scots in Wooster, 66-53, on Jan. 18. 1997, will have the homecourt advantage throughout next week’s NCAC Tournament, which begins Tuesday.
If there was any doubt the Tigers are for real, it was erased on this night as they dominated play throughout and left the capacity Timken Gymnasium crowd of 3,400 in a state of stunned silence.
“They’re good _ they are very good,” said Wooster forward Matt Smith of the Tigers.
Kevin Longley led the way for the Tigers, 21-2 and 15-1 NCAC, with 18 points and 17 rebounds _ one off his career high. Fellow big man Chris Fillmore had 18 points _ including Witt’s first eight markers _ and senior Ryan Taylor pumped in 17.
No one all season long has been able to stop our inside people and when they are playing well, we are tough to beat,'' Taylor said.It’s been a long road the last four years with a lot of disappointment. But we got it done tonight and it’s a great, great feeling.”
We just came in here extremely confident,'' Longley said.They were the No. 1 team, but we thought we had the better team. They would have only one post player in there at times and our eyes would light up. I knew I could score every time. Everyone just went after it (on the boards). We knew we could pound them inside.”
Meanwhile, freshman point guard Mark Borland was getting it done on the perimeter, running the Witt show to perfection. The 5-foot-8 sparkplug tallied 17 points, dished out five assists and held Wooster’s all-conference guard Antwyan Reynolds to 5 of 19 shooting (13 points).
We were not able to defend them at the basket ... and Borland had a great game for them. His penetration really hurt us,'' said Wooster Coach Steve Moore, whose team fell to 21-3 and 14-2, with both league losses coming to the Tigers.Overall, I thought Wittenberg just played an outstanding game.”
One statistic, in particular, reached out and grabbed Wittenberg Coach Bill Brown’s attention _ the Tigers recorded 23 offensive boards.
We did a tremendous job going after the ball. We have four guys with nice size we can rotate in and we have the utmost confidence in all of them,'' Brown said.Wooster got into a little bit of foul trouble and they got tired, too.”
In all, Wittenberg’s forwards and centers compiled 73 points and 46 rebounds in the game. But, it took them awhile to wear the Scots down.
In fact, at the onset, it appeared as if Wooster was well on its way to avenging its 90-83 loss at Wittenberg on Jan. 20. The Scots held a 17-8 lead seven minutes into the contest and still led, 33-26, with eight minutes left in the half when the Tigers began to flex their muscles inside.
A driving hoop by Borland sparked a 10-2 Wittenberg run, giving the Tigers a 36-35 lead with 5:27 left. But the Scots surged back to regain the lead, 44-38, after a Steve Thompson steal and lay-up with 3:01 left in the half.
From that point, however, it was all Wittenberg.
The Tigers closed the half with an 8-0 burst and then opened the second half with another 8-0 run that gave them a 54-44 advantage with 18:11 to play and prompted the Wittenberg faithful that had made the long trip north to chant to the Wooster student section, “Why so quiet?”
And it was … but the Tigers were just beginning to make big noise on the court.
After the Scots answered with five straight points, Witt went on another 8-0 run to go up, 62-49. Later, a trey from the left baseline by Taylor extended the gap to 74-60 with 8:58 remaining _ and the Scots’ home streak was in peril.
The law of averages was on our side,'' Brown said of Wooster's streak.At some point, they had to start thinking that maybe this was the night it would end.”
It would be.
Another Taylor three-pointer from the same spot on the floor pushed the Tigers’ lead to 20 points, 87-67, with 5:55 left. From there, the Tigers simply ran the clock out.
It's really exciting because, obviously, Wooster is a nearly impossible place to play and win,'' Borland said.So ending their streak adds a little more meaning to our NCAC championship.”
But Borland, Brown and the rest of the Tigers say they have no plans to rest on their laurels.
Certainly this is a great win for us,'' Brown said.But our next goal is to win the conference tournament championship. Yes, we want to be in the NCAA Tournament, but I won’t address that right now. That is not our mindset. Our focus is going to be on the conference tournament.”
Though few would say it aloud, the Tigers seem well aware that Saturday’s victory would seemingly seal at at-large NCAA bid.
I would think they would be in now,'' said Smith, who led all scorers with 21 points.And I hope that both of us get in and are able to represent our conference.”
We still have one more big one _ the conference tournament,'' Taylor said.That’s the one that gets you the automatic bid so you don’t have to worry about anything. But yeah, I would think it would be hard to keep us out now.”
WITTENBERG (94) _ R. Taylor 6-10 2-2 17, Longley 9-14 0-0 18, Fillmore 6-9 6-6 18, Rustad 0-4 0-0 0, Borland 5-11 7-10 17, Mossing 0-3 4-6 4, Krauss 0-2 0-0 0, Emmons 0-0 0-0 0, Harris 2-3 3-5 7, Walker 1-6 3-3 5, Gratsch 3-3 2-4 8. Totals: 32-65 27-36 94.
WOOSTER (80) _ Smith 7-12 4-4 21, Thompson 6-11 0-0 15, Nelson 5-10 1-2 11, Reynolds 5-19 1-2 13, Gaubatz 2-6 6-6 11, Mitchell 2-5 0-0 4, Sistrunk 1-1 0-0 2, Carlisle 1-6 1-3 3. Totals: 29-70 13-17 80.
Halftime: Wittenberg, 46-44. Three-point goals: Wittenberg 3-10 (R. Taylor 3-3, Mossing 0-3, Rustad 0-2, Borland 0-1, Krauss 0-1), Wooster 9-25 (Smith 3-5, Thompson 3-5, Reynolds 2-10, Gaubatz 1-2, Nelson 0-2, Mitchell 0-1). Shooting percentages: Wittenberg .492, Wooster .414. Rebounds: Wittenberg 58 (Longley 17), Wooster 25 (Gaubatz 5, Nelson 5). Total fouls: Wittenberg 24, Wooster 28. Fouled out: Sistrunk. Technical fouls: None. Assists: Wittenberg 9 (Borland 5), Wooster 16 (Reynolds 6). Turnovers: Wittenberg 14, Wooster 5. Officials: John Jasin, Bob Morris, Greg Zink. Records: Wittenberg 21-2, 15-1 NCAC; Wooster 21-3, 14-2. A: 3,400.
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