The Wittenberg men's basketball team captured the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship with a 71-69 victory over the College of Wooster on Saturday to earn a berth into the 2006 NCAA Division III Tournament. Wittenberg, which will make an NCAA Division III record 24th appearance in the national competition, then was selected as a host site for one of 11 four-team opening round brackets.

Wittenberg is slated to host Lake Erie College in a first round game at 8 p.m. Friday. That will follow a game between Baldwin-Wallace College and Carnegie Mellon University, which is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip-off.

The winners of those two games will play in the second round at 7 p.m. Saturday, also at Wittenberg. The winner of Saturday's game will find out on Sunday, March 5, where the four-team sectional tournament will take place on March 10-11. The national semifinals and finals are scheduled for March 17-18 in Salem, Va.

The Tigers moved up to third in the nation in the national weekly poll administered by d3hoops.com after winning three NCAC Tournament games last week. Wittenberg brings a 25-3 overall record into the national competition, including a mark of 13-3 during the NCAC regular season. That was good for second place behind Wooster, the host of the NCAC Tournament semifinals and finals. For the second straight year, Wittenberg cut down the nets on arch-rival Wooster's home court, this time avenging a pair of narrow losses to the Scots during the 2005-06 regular season.

As usual, the Tigers got solid games from several supporting cast members, but the stars of the show were clearly the senior trio of Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia), Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) and Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading). Borchers was named Tournament MVP for his 22-point, 14-rebound performance, which came on the heels of a double-double performance in the tourney semifinals against Ohio Wesleyan on Friday night. Borchers recorded his seventh double-double of the season against the Scots.

Russ, the 2005 NCAC Player of the Year and Tournament MVP, nearly matched his teammate in the post with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the third double-double of his final campaign in the Red & White. His penchant for hitting the big shots at the biggest moments continued Saturday as his two free throws with seven seconds left in the game gave the Tigers the cushion they desperately needed to hold on for the win.

Russ now stands 10th in school history with 1,387 career points.

Brady was equally clutch. He finished with 13 points, but the last five came in the final 1:36 with the Scots putting on a furious charge from what had been a nine-point Wittenberg lead. Brady hit three straight free throws to keep the Scots at bay before Russ' pair. Wooster drilled three three-pointers in the final 27 seconds to nearly send the game into overtime.

The rally was fueled by three missed free throws in four attempts by the Tigers after senior wing Phil Steffes (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) had put Wittenberg ahead by nine points with 1:16 left on a pair of shots from the charity stripe. That capped a crucial 6-1 run by the Tigers that featured two key plays by Steffes - a mid-court steal and a hard-fought rebound.

Steffes finished with four points, three rebounds and two steals, and freshman guard Gregg Hill (Redford, Mich./Union) added seven points and two assists in 24 productive minutes off the bench. The only other Tiger player to score in the game was junior guard Pat Denbow (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier), who finished with five points and two assists in 32 outstanding minutes. Despite being the main backcourt ballhandler against the Scots' pressure defense, Denbow was charged with just two turnovers in 32 minutes.

Wittenberg, the best defensive team in all of NCAA Division III with a scoring average of just over 54 points allowed, finally held the Scots, who rank fourth nationally with more than 100 points per game, relatively in check. The 69 points was the second lowest of the season for the Scots, thanks in large part to a 7-of-18 performance from three-point range. Wooster had hit 23 treys combined in the first two meetings between the two teams, but Wittenberg took much of the Scots' perimeter game away and found the tempo much more to its liking.

The Tigers are sure to be tested again this weekend after winning the 300th game of Head Coach Bill Brown's Wittenberg career on Saturday against Wooster. Brown has a record of 300-69 in 13 seasons as the head coach of his alma mater's men's basketball program, and his overall record - including five years at Kenyon and one at Wooster - stands at 360-168. He is nearing the Wittenberg record for coaching wins, which is currently held by Larry Hunter, who guided the Tigers to a 305-76 record between 1976 and 1989.

Brown's teams have won six NCAC regular season titles and four NCAC Tournament championships. The Tigers have reached the NCAA Division III Tournament nine times in his 13 seasons, including five of the last six.

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page and season statistics page.

Next: 3/3 vs. Lake Erie
NCAA Division III Tournament

The Wittenberg men's basketball team has locked up second place in the North Coast Athletic Conference, but naturally the Tigers have much higher goals they hope to attain before the clock runs out on the 2005-06 season.

The Tigers fell from the No. 1 ranking in the nation on Feb. 4 with an 86-77 setback at home against second-ranked Wooster. The game was the first between the top two ranked teams in the nation in Springfield since Wittenberg and Otterbein squared off in 1984. That game also ended in a nine-point loss for the top-ranked Tigers.

The loss to Wooster assured the Scots, who now have a pair of wins over the Tigers this year, of a first place finish in the NCAC regular season title chase. Wittenberg is now 21-2 overall and 12-2 in the NCAC heading into a final week that includes a tough road game against Wabash on Wednesday and a Senior Day showdown back at the HPER Center against Allegheny.

The Tigers, who picked up 22 points apiece from senior posts Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) and Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) in the loss to Wooster, rebounded nicely with road wins over Ohio Wesleyan and Hiram last week. Against the Battling Bishops, Russ was the story, scoring the Tigers' first 11 points of the game en route to one of the finest statistical performances of his career with 24 points, nine rebounds, five blocked shots and four assists. He added 14 points and six rebounds on Saturday against Hiram and claimed NCAC Player of the Week honors as a result.

The Tigers have great balance almost every game, but one development to watch in the last week has been the emergence of reserve freshman guard Gregg Hill (Redford, Mich./Union) as an offensive presence. Hill came off the bench to score a career-high 12 points in the win over OWU, and he followed that up with 10 points against Hiram. Key for a point guard playing more than 20 minutes per game, Hill also finished the week with five assists and just two turnovers.

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page and season statistics page.

Next: 2/15 @ Wabash
2/18 vs. Allegheny

The Wittenberg men's basketball team has turned the corner in the 2005-06 North Coast Athletic Conference title chase, and now they are headed for home riding an 11-game win streak. The No. 1 ranked team in all of NCAA Division III, Wittenberg stands at 17-1 overall and 8-1 in the NCAC after wins at Allegheny and at home against Wabash in the last week.

The five-point win over Allegheny on Saturday was Wittenberg's most significant challenge since a Dec. 10 loss at Wooster, the second-ranked team in the nation and the current NCAC leader. In that 11-game stretch, no other team has gotten closer than 11 points to the Tigers.

With 2005 NCAC Player of the Year Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) struggling, the Tigers got a huge lift from senior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia), who hit for a career-high 29 points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds. Borchers did much of the heavy lifting in the game, setting the stage for the biggest shot of junior guard Pat Denbow's (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) collegiate career, a three-pointer with 44 seconds left that made it a two-possession game. Then Borchers and senior wing Phil Steffes (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) combined to hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to ensure the victory.

Against Wabash, the Tigers came out of the locker room on fire by hitting their first six shots, and they effectively buried the Little Giants. Wittenberg, the top-ranked defensive team in all of NCAA Division III, smothered Wabash, winning the battle of the boards by seven and holding the Little Giants to 38 percent shooting from the field. Russ rebounded nicely, going for a game-high 17 points, while senior wing Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading) added 10 points and six boards.

For the season, Russ, Borchers and Brady lead the Tigers in scoring and rebounding. Only twice this season has another player led Wittenberg in scoring in a game and only twice all season has another player topped the team in rebounds.

The stretch run of the 2005-06 season figures to be an interesting one for the Tigers, starting with road games in the next six days against Denison on Saturday and Earlham on Wednesday. Those two teams both lost to Wittenberg by double figures earlier this season, but both are in contention for an upper division finish in the conference's regular season title chase. A win against the top-ranked team in the nation could make their season.

If forms holds, however, the game of the season will take place Feb. 4 in the HPER Center when Wittenberg welcomes Wooster for their second grudge match of the 2005-06 season. The Tigers won two of three games a year ago between the two teams, but Wooster won the game in Springfield, 102-95 in triple overtime. The Scots also won the first meeting between the two teams this season on a late three-pointer on Wooster's home court.

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page and season statistics page.

Next: 1/28 @ Denison

The Wittenberg men's basketball team is rolling along with a nine-game win streak, a run that has pushed the Tigers to the No. 1 ranking in the last two d3hoops.com national weekly polls. At 15-1 overall and 6-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, the Tigers are firmly established as a contender on a national scale in 2006.

Wittenberg has been in this position numerous times in recent years, yet the Tigers haven't reached the NCAA Division III semifinals in more than a decade. So Head Coach Bill Brown, who now has 290 wins in his Wittenberg career, knows that his team has merely put itself in position to this point. All of the team's goals are still waiting to be fully achieved.

In the last week, the Tigers completed a three-game homestand with three convincing victories over NCAC rivals Earlham, Hiram and Ohio Wesleyan. Wittenberg defeated the Quakers and Bishops (both of whom were tied with Wittenberg in the conference standings coming into the match-up) by 17 points apiece and also battered the Terriers by 42 points.

Against Earlham, the Tigers shot 57 percent from the field, compared to just 32 percent for the Quakers, and the rebounding margin was just as stark, a 40-28 advantage for Wittenberg. The win over Hiram was never in doubt, in part thanks to a stunning 62-22 rebounding advantage for the home team. And against Ohio Wesleyan, the Tigers shot 75 percent from the field in the first half and 66 percent for the game. That included a blistering 9-of-13 from three-point range.

Game after game, the senior frontcourt trio of posts Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) and Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) and wing Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading) has led the way in scoring and rebounding, but the Tigers continue to make strides as a team because of the improved play of its supporting cast. Russ, Borchers and Brady are averaging double figures in scoring and are the team's top three rebounders.

Each game seems to produce a different key additional contributor, with junior wing Billy Bowen (Arcadia, Ind./Hamilton Heights) the latest hero after he drilled three consecutive treys in the first half of the win over Ohio Wesleyan. Bowen is shooting a phenomenal 55 percent from three-point range on the season (22-of-40), and for the third straight season has taken more three-point shots than two-pointers (40 treys and 14 from two-point range).

In that same game, junior guard Pat Denbow (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) had a career-high 11 points in large part thanks to a 3-of-4 shooting performance from beyond the arc. In his first year as a starter, Denbow has been steady at the point with 40 assists against 30 turnovers and a solid 45 percent shooting performance from the field on the season.

Next up for the Tigers, the top-ranked defensive team in all of NCAA Division III with just over 53 points allowed per game, is a key stretch of the season, beginning with Saturday's road trip to Allegheny. Wittenberg returns home for a game against a scrappy Wabash team on Jan. 25 before the Tigers hit the road again to take on a suddenly hot Denison squad on Jan. 28. Last year, the Big Red defeated Wittenberg in double overtime on their home court.

Then comes a road game on Feb. 1 against third-place Earlham, which took league-leader Wooster to overtime early this year, followed by the game of the year on Feb. 4 against the Tigers' arch-rival, the Wooster Fighting Scots. Wooster, ranked second in the nation currently, defeated Wittenberg on a last second shot on Dec. 10.

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page and season statistics page.

Next: 1/21 at Allegheny

The Wittenberg men's basketball team has now reeled off six straight wins since its only loss of the season, and as the Tigers head into the heart of North Coast Athletic Conference play they appear to be making significant improvement.

Ranked second in the nation with a 12-1 overall record, Wittenberg has limited its last six opponents to 54 points or less while winning each game by at least 11 points. Along the way, the Tigers have beaten two Ohio Athletic Conference contenders (Ohio Northern and Otterbein), took first place in the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic in the HPER Center and moved out to a 3-1 record in the early going of the 2005-06 NCAC regular season title chase.

In the Zimmerman Classic, the Tigers overwhelmed St. Norbert, 60-36, in the opening round before dispatching NAIA scholarship program Marian (Ind.) by a 63-49 count in the championship game. Senior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) was the Tournament MVP for a second straight year after he came up with 26 points and eight rebounds combined in the two games.

Borchers was joined on the all-tournament team by freshman wing Tyler Howard (Lebanon, Ohio/Springboro), who reached double figures in points off the bench in both games, and senior post Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity), who shook off a calf injury that kept out of the first game to score 14 points and grab seven rebounds in the finale. As usual, Russ made the big plays down the stretch, including an acrobatic defensive rebound and then a putback basket and ensuing free throw that essentially put the game out of reach in the final minutes.

In the last week, the Tigers have headed back into NCAC play and easily defeated Kenyon at home on Wednesday and Oberlin on the road on Saturday. All 16 players in uniform for each game saw at least two minutes of action.

For the season, Russ leads a tremendously balanced team effort with 14.4 points per game. He also stands second with 5.3 rebounds per outing, first in blocks with 16, second in field goal percentage at 57 percent and third in assists with 20. Borchers is second in points at 11.3 per outing and tops in rebounds with 6.6 per game. In addition, Borchers is shooting 93 percent from the foul line to rank first in the NCAC and in the top five nationally.

What has been most impressive in recent weeks, however, has been the progress made by a relatively young supporting cast around Russ and Borchers. Howard is one of three freshmen in the 10-man rotation employed by Head Coach Bill Brown, who is nearing 300 victories for his Wittenberg career. He is averaging 7.5 points per game and leads the Tigers with 18 three-pointers on 47 percent shooting from long range.

Along with the development of junior wing Billy Bowen (Hamilton Heights, Ind./Arcadia) and junior post Jack Hemenway (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville), who are averaging career-bests of 4.8 and 3.9 points per game respectively, Howard and the Tigers' second unit keeps opponents on their toes.

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page and season statistics page.

Next: 1/11 vs. Earlham

The Wittenberg men’s basketball team has had more than a week to absorb an 86-83 defeat at arch-rival Wooster on Dec. 10, but the Tigers won’t exactly be working back into the schedule slowly this week. Wittenberg welcomes perennial Ohio Athletic Conference powerhouses Ohio Northern and Otterbein to the HPER Center on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

The Tigers remain the third-ranked team in NCAA Division III currently, despite the loss at second-ranked Wooster on a late three-pointer. With a 6-1 overall record and a mark of 1-1 in the NCAC, the games against Ohio Northern and Otterbein are key in-region contests that could have a great impact on the Tigers’ postseason hopes.

Just four days after defeating fifth-ranked NAIA Division II scholarship program Cedarville, 65-59, in the Yellow Jackets’ home gym, the Tigers played a scintillating game with Wooster. It included 17 lead changes, including 15 in the second half alone, and it eventually came down to a 25-foot three-pointer that hit nothing but net.

The Tigers were led by 2005 North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity), who dropped in a game-high 33 points, the second-best scoring output of his collegiate career. The only time he has topped that point total was in a triple-overtime classic against Wooster last season in the HPER Center, when he hit for 37 points.

Russ added seven rebounds, four behind the team leader in that category, fellow senior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia). Borchers had his best game of the 2005-06 season with his first double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman wing Tyler Howard (Lebanon, Ohio/Springboro) chipped in with 10 points off the bench, including a pair of key first-half three-pointers.

Russ, who became the 28th player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point plateau earlier this season, leads the Tigers with 14.3 points per game so far this season, followed by senior wing Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading) with 11.4 per outing. Brady netted nine in the loss at Wooster after topping the team offensively with 15 points, including three treys in the opening five minutes of the game, against Cedarville. Borchers, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder a year ago, checks in with 9.1 points and a team-best 6.6 boards per contest in 2005-06.

After this week’s games, the Tigers have a week off before hosting the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic on Dec. 29-30. Wittenberg opens with St. Norbert in the first round, while the other Day 1 game includes Marian (Ind.) and Olivet.

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page and season statistics page.

The Wittenberg men's basketball team is off to its best start in 12 years, but the third-ranked Tigers will be put to the test this week with games at NAIA Division II fifth-ranked Cedarville on Tuesday and at second-ranked North Coast Athletic Conference rival Wooster on Saturday.

The Tigers are a perfect 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the NCAC after opening conference action last Saturday with a 70-52 victory over Denison. The win avenged an NCAC-opening double overtime loss in the Big Red's home gym a year ago.

The Tigers were led by senior post Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity), who enjoyed his finest game to date this season. Russ hit for 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in the win over the Big Red.

That performance came less than a week after Russ became just the 28th player in program history to top the 1,000-point plateau for career scoring with 12 points in a 62-51 victory at Transylvania on Nov. 27. Heading into Tuesday's contest against Cedarville, Russ has 1,023 career points, just two behind Eddie Ford '75 and Anthony Robinson '96. At his current pace, Russ, who shares scoring honors through five games with senior wing Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading) at 11.2 points per game, will likely move into the top 15 in school history for scoring.

Senior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia) also enjoyed an outstanding game against Denison, going for 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Borchers and Russ combined to make 13-17 shots from the field in the game.

Of equal importance to the best frontcourt game of the season was the play of the young Tiger perimeter players, including freshman wing D.J. Corbett (Villa Hills, Ky./Dixie Heights), who contributed 11 points off the bench. He hit 4-of-6 from three-point range, loosening up the defense for the big guys down low.

The last time Wittenberg started 5-0, the Tigers reeled off 26 straight victories before losing to Kenyon in the 1994 NCAC Tournament championship game. After three more wins, the Tigers were stopped in the NCAA Division III Final Four by Lebanon Valley in overtime before finishing third in the nation with a program-best 30-2 overall record.

Any plans to duplicate such a remarkable winning streak will hinge upon the Tigers' continued outstanding defense and efficient, balanced offense. The Tigers lead the NCAC in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense, while also ranking first in free throw percentage and second in field goal percentage.

Wooster, on the other hand, is averaging nearly 100 points per game in the early going and has attempted twice as many three-point field goals as Wittenberg. On Saturday, one of the most intense college basketball rivalries in the nation will be renewed with teams of contrasting styles lacing them up. The Tigers and Scots have split the 16 NCAC regular season titles since Wittenberg entered the conference in 1989 almost evenly.

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page and season statistics page.

The Wittenberg men's basketball program, with the most wins and highest winning percentage in NCAA Division III history, opens the 2005-06 season this weekend with a significant challenge right off the bat. The Tigers travel to the University of Rochester for the Chuck Resler Invitational, starting with a game on Friday against Tufts University. The Tigers, ranked 10th in the nation in the preseason d3hoops.com poll, face a potential Saturday match-up with fellow top-10 ranked Rochester, the 2005 NCAA Division III runner-up.

The program may have suffered deep player graduation losses, but lofty annual goals remain the same for the 2005-06 season. A program with the highest of high expectations - thanks to an average of 22 wins per season since 1955 and an NCAA-record 23 appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament - Wittenberg returns three starters and eight letterwinners overall a year after compiling a 25-4 season record and reaching the second round of the NCAA national tourney.

The Tigers' four losses came in most heartbreaking fashion. Wittenberg lost a three-point game in regulation, two regular season North Coast Athletic Conference games in overtime and a double-overtime game against John Carroll in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Conversely, the outstanding 2004-05 season was punctuated with several big-game wins. The Tigers were victorious three times against opponents who were ranked No. 1 in the country at some point during the season, including wins over Cedarville and Wooster that knocked those teams out of the top spots in the polls. In addition, Wittenberg won regular season games at Capital, Otterbein and Ohio Northern in a unique road sweep of the second, third and fourth-seeded teams in the season-ending Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament.

A trio of outstanding seniors provide the foundation for what could be another special team. Daniel Russ (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) is a 6-9 post player who, while second on the team in points and rebounds a year ago, came up big time and again in the biggest games, leading to North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors. A first-team All-Great Lakes Region and third-team All-America honoree, Russ was the NCAC Tournament MVP as the Tigers won that title to take the conference's automatic berth into the national tourney.

The team's leading scorer, Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia), a 6-8 post player, had the breakthrough season his coaches knew was possible from the moment he and his surgically repaired back reached campus in 2002. After missing his entire freshman year with the back injury, Borchers progressed steadily in an outstanding sophomore season before breaking his wrist in the conference tournament title game. Fully healthy in 2004-05, Borchers was tremendous, leading the team in scoring and rebounding and ranking among the national leaders in shooting percentage. He earned second-team All-NCAC honors.

The Tigers' third proven inside-outside player is Kenny Brady (Reading, Ohio/Reading), perhaps the most skilled of the trio overall. After an insignificant freshman campaign, Brady, a 6-4 wing player, broke out in 2003-04, averaging more than 10 points, four assists and five rebounds en route to earning second-team All-NCAC honors. Prior to the 2004-05 season, Brady went down with an ankle injury that required surgery and forced him to the sidelines until early January. He rounded into shape well, however, finishing fourth on the team in scoring and rebounding and playing a key role in the Tigers' run through the conference tournament.

The big question is who will surround Russ, Borchers and Brady. Four perimeter players graduated in May, leaving a quartet of gaping holes in the 10-man rotation typically desired by Head Coach Bill Brown. Four other letterwinners return in 2005-06, led by senior Phil Steffes (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville), a 6-1 guard, who started all 29 games a year ago for the Tigers. Also back are junior wing Billy Bowen (Hamilton Heights, Ind./Arcadia) and junior post players Jack Hemenway (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) and Mark Huelsman (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana).

Details about the Tigers’ season can be found on the team's schedule/results page.