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Home > Blogs > Springfield, Ohio High School Sports > Archives > 2009 > February > 26 > Entry
On this date in area sports history …
Fifteen years ago on this date, Feb. 26, 1994, the 26-0 Wittenberg men’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, to Kenyon in the NCAC tournament final. It was the first career loss for first-year head coach Bill Brown, whose team went on to finish third in the NCAA tournament.
Complete story on the jump.
WU UNBEATEN NO MORE
KENYON DEALS TIGERS DEFEAT IN NCAC FINAL
By Rob Oller, Sports Writer
DELAWARE, Ohio - The only noise coming from Wittenberg’s lockerroom was the showers running - the sound of perfection being washed away.
The Tigers’ unblemished 26-0 record took an uppercut Saturday night, and as the players quietly dressed, their lone consolation was that their first loss wasn’t automatically their last.
“I don’t want our players to forget about the 26 and dwell on the one loss,” WU Coach Bill Brown said after Kenyon upended the Tigers, 84-78, before 2,050 in the championship game of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament at Ohio Wesleyan University.
It was a bad night for unbeatens, as the nation’s only other undefeated men’s team, Indiana, Pa., was upset by California, Pa.
“In some ways this is a blessing in disguise,” Brown added, optimistically. “If we don’t make the needed corrections, then our next loss would keep us from a big, big goal.”
That objective - winning the NCAA Division III championship - remains alive, as Wittenberg will receive an invitation tonight to the 40-team tournament, which begins Thursday. The Tigers also likely will be the No. 1 seed in the Great Lakes Region and should host a second round contest next Saturday.
Kenyon, 24-3, receives an automatic berth after winning its first conference tournament in school history. The Lords also will probably host a second round game. Their thoughts Saturday night, however, were not on the future but the present - knocking off the top-seeded and No. 1 team in the country.
“We had our shots against some top-ranked teams and took our licks,” remarked tournament most valuable player Chris Donovan, referring to two regular-season losses to Wittenberg and another to No. 2 ranked Franklin & Marshall, Pa. “We wanted to prove we could beat these teams.”
The proof came early and late. The Lords, who ended Wittenberg’s season on this floor last year in the NCAC tournament semifinals, the Tigers last loss before Saturday, outscored WU 12-2 in the last 2:53 to secure the victory.
Wittenberg led, 76-72 with 2:53 showing when Donovan hit the biggest shot of his career, a three-pointer from the top of the arc to cut it to 76-75 at 2:38. The bucket capped an impressive rally by the 6-foot-8 junior, who finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds after being held to six points and four boards the first half.
It was Donovan’s two three-point plays just 40 seconds apart that brought the Lords back from a 70-63 deficit with 4:43 remaining to a 72-69 margin at 4:03.
It also was superior rebounding. Kenyon gained a 43-29 advantage on the glass, the first time Wittenberg was beaten there this year.
“Coach got in my face at halftime and told me it was my worst half of the season,” Donovan said, smiling. The lanky forward explained that after forcing shots against Wittenberg’s tough defense the first half, he “let it flow” after intermission.
It helped Kenyon that WU senior forward Luke Ragan, who helped hold Donovan to 18 points and eight boards in the previous two meetings, only played 12 minutes because of a hip injury he suffered in Friday’s semifinal win over Ohio Wesleyan.
Donovan also supplied big plays defensively, After his three-pointer cut it to 76-75, he blocked a shot by point guard Anthony Robinson and the Lords tied it at 76-all on a Che’ Smith free throw at 1:57.
Kenyon missed a chance to pull ahead when Ken Danzinger missed two free throws with 47 ticks showing, but Donovan pulled down a huge offensive rebound off the second miss and was fouled by Robinson.
Donovan gave the Lords the lead for good on a pair of free throws with 46 ticks showing and it then became a foul shooting contest.
Wittenberg senior Matt Croci missed a chance to tie it when his leaning 15-footer banged off the rim and the Tigers were forced to foul when Kenyon cradled the rebound. Danzinger, who tossed in 12 points, buried both freebies to push the lead to 80-76 with 27 seconds left, but Robinson sank two foul shots 10 seconds later to draw WU to within 80-78.
Wittenberg fouled again and Danzinger hit two free throws for a 82-78 cushion at 0:12. Croci missed a three at 0:05 and Andrew Miller tallied the last of his 16 points with two free throws to end the thriller.
Brown was disappointed that the WU offense broke apart down the stretch. The Tigers appeared hurried and didn’t execute motion plays to their completion.
“A couple of people just wanted to get it done so bad … it’s not often that kind of attitude hurts you in the long run, but sometimes in the short run it does,” he explained.
The Tigers may have thought they couldn’t miss after their hot-shooting stretch the first half led to a 46-43 lead at intermission. They needed the strong shooting to get back in it.
Kenyon stormed to a 18-9 lead after five minutes and led 28-14 at 11:23 after hitting 12 of their first 14 shots.
Wittenberg, facing its largest deficit of the season, then showed why it had a goose egg on the right side of its record. Aaron Perry, who finished with 12 points, buried a trey, followed by Croci on the next possession and Robinson on the next to slice the margin to 28-23. Kenyon’s Jamie Harless, who tallied 16 of his 21 points the first half, made it 31-23 with a trey of his own, but Croci, who led all scorers with 28 points on 10 of 24 from the field, popped from long range to give Witt four treys on five possessions. The Tigers finally caught Kenyon at 32-all to complete an 18-4 run over 4 1/2 minutes.
“At halftime I emphasized keeping our composure,” said Kenyon Coach Bill H. Brown. “We did what we had to in starting hot, but in four minutes Wittenberg neutralized our start.”
But the Tigers couldn’t neutralize the Lords’ finish.
“Give Kenyon credit,” Perry said. “Coach always tells us that good teams have spurts. We figured they’d make one more run; they caught us and passed us.”
Croci said it hurt that the Tigers hadn’t been in too many positions where they trailed both early and late.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “What’s bad is that this is the same lockerroom we were in when they beat us here last year.”
And it was just as quiet this time around.
TIGER TALES - Joining Donovan on the all-tournament team were Croci, Robinson, Harless, Miller and Jay Mrukowski of Ohio Wesleyan.
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