For Immediate Release Feb. 16, 2009

Contact: Ryan Maurer E-Mail: rmaurer@wittenberg.edu

Chris Sullivan

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - It took a frenetic final five minutes of basketball, but the Wittenberg Tigers fought their way to an 80-69 victory over the visiting Indiana University-East Red Wolves.

A late addition to the Tigers' 2008-09 schedule after a game against Transylvania on Jan. 30 could not be made up, IU-East bounced back from a shaky opening half to turn the game into a fast-paced slugfest over the final 20 minutes. The Tigers held on thanks to 6-of-8 free throw shooting in the final two minutes, improving to 12-11 overall with the victory. IU-East, an NAIA Division II member school in its second year as a four-year scholarship program, dropped to 22-8 on the season.

The game appeared to be well in hand through the first 37 minutes or so. After Wittenberg took a commanding 40-24 lead into the locker room at halftime, the Tigers weathered several IU-East runs to push the lead back out to 16 points with 3:16 remaining on two free throws by sophomore guard Chris Sullivan (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington). However, the Red Wolves turned up the full court pressure, flying around the court with a ferocity missing for most of the game prior to that point and managing to push the lead back down to seven with 36 seconds remaining.

Sullivan hit two free throws after breaking the ensuing press, however, and then after a missed lay-up Sullivan iced it with his career-high 20th point on a layup with 24 seconds left. He hit 6-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point range, and another 5-of-6 from the free throw to go along with three rebounds and a team season-high five steals.

Senior wing Kevin Murray (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) added 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while three other Tigers finished with eight points each. One of those was freshman wing Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh), who added six rebounds to his eight points before departing with an ankle injury in the second half.

The difference in the game was shooting percentage as the Tigers hit 58 percent in the first half and 54 percent overall in the game, compared to IU-East at 39 percent. Wittenberg overcame an uncharacteristic 22 turnovers, compared to 16 for IU-East, with a 41-30 rebounding advantage.

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2008-09 Men's Basketball Schedule/Results