Story By: Ryan Maurer
E-Mail: rmaurer@wittenberg.edu

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg men's basketball team showed that the HPER Center court is a deadly territory for all opponents that enter Tiger country. The Tigers continued their winning ways at home - five straight years without a North Coast Athletic Conference regular season loss in the HPER Center - with a 75-48 defeat of the Earlham Quakers.

The Tigers improved to 16-2 overall and 8-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The next contest for the Tigers will be against Denison at 3 p.m. Saturday, a re-match of a heartbreaking 89-79 Tigers' loss in Granville in double overtime on Dec. 11.

Wittenberg never trailed in the game, but Earlham was within striking distance until midway through the second half. A 10-0 Wittenberg run, highlighted by a thunderous Daniel Russ putback dunk at the 7:41 mark brought the home crowd to its feet, and it helped the Tigers increase their lead from 15 to 25 points. Earlham was no match for Wittenberg the rest of the way.

Three Wittenberg players scored in double figures. Junior post Daniel Russ scored a team-high 18 points, and he also added a game-high nine rebounds. Russ was 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Senior wing Andy Bucheit contributed 12 points. Finally, junior post Dane Borchers scored 11 points, going 3-of-3 from the free throw line. As a team Wittenberg was 17-of-18 from the free throw line.

The Earlham Quakers got a game-high 19 points from junior Brandon Miller. The Quakers saw their five-game win streak snapped while dropping to 8-10 overall and 6-3 in the NCAC.