Posted February 4 2001, 10:34 am
Posted by: Ryan Maurer
The Wittenberg University men's basketball team survived a scare on Saturday night, outlasting the Hiram Terriers 85-81 in overtime. The Tigers improved to 17-2 overall this year and remained atop the North Coast Athletic Conference with an 11-1 mark.
Leading 76-71 with 10 seconds left in regulation, Hiram bounced back to hit a layup, force a turnover and then bury a three-pointer with one second remaining to force overtime. In the extra session, senior forward Ryan Taylor (Waynesfield, Ohio/Goshen) hit a layup, junior guard Chad Mossing (Maumee, Ohio/Holland Springfield) canned a three-pointer, and senior center Chris Fillmore (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) and junior guard Greg Rustad (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood) both hit two free throws to secure the victory.
Wittenberg was without the services of starting senior point guard Kyle Krauss (Deshler, Ohio/Patrick Henry), who suffered a broken hand in Wednesday's win over Earlham. The Tigers were led by Mossing's season-high 18 points, which included a 6-of-9 performance from behind the three-point arc. As a team, the Tigers shot 44.8 percent from three-point land in the game. Taylor chipped in with 17 and Rustad rounded out the double-figure scoring with 13. All 10 Tigers who saw action scored.
No rest for the weary, as the Tigers head back into NCAC action on Wednesday. The Wabash Little Giants, one of the team's nipping at Wittenberg's heels in the conference standings, comes calling at the HPER Center in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.
On the women's side, the Tigers rebounded from a tough loss on Friday night to NCAC-leading Allegheny, whipping visiting Hiram 74-43. With the win, Wittenberg improved to 13-7 overall and 7-5 in the NCAC and kept alive hopes of hosting a first-round tournament game later this month.
Sophomore guard Stephanie Campbell (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) led the Tigers with her best shooting performance in some time. She poured in 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, including a 2-of-2 outing from behind the arc. Sophomore guard Kate Rolf (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Carroll) chipped in with 11 points, and freshman forward Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) added six points and 11 rebounds in just 16 minutes off the bench.
The Tigers head right back into NCAC action next week with a difficult road schedule. Wittenberg is at defending NCAC tournament champion Kenyon on Wednesday and then takes on perennial powerhouse Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday before returning home for two games the final week before the tourney.
Finally, the Wittenberg University men's and women's track teams ran well at Ohio Northern over the weekend. The highlight of the meet, according to Head Coach Steve Shutt, was freshman Kelly Zilli (Dayton, Ohio/Kettering Alter), who has now established a school record in each of her first two collegiate meets. She won the 500 meters in school record time on Friday.
Look for details on her time and the rest of the team's performances over the weekend in the weekly Wittenberg sports release, to be posted on these pages by Wednesday afternoon.