For the fourth straight year, the Wittenberg men's basketball couldn't find the range in a game hosted by the Hiram Terriers as the Tigers saw their eight-game winning streak snapped in a 65-51 loss.

Wittenberg had not lost since Dec. 22 at home against Otterbein, but the Tigers shot just 28 percent in falling to 13-4 overall. The good news is that Wittenberg remains in first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) standings at 7-1, heading into a huge home date opposite second-place DePauw at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25.

Hard as it is to believe, the Tigers actually raised their shooting percentage to 28 percent in the second half after making just 6-of-27 shots from the floor over the opening 20 minutes. Hiram countered by shooting 43 percent in the first half as the Terriers, who improved to 11-6 overall and 4-4 in the NCAC, opened a 30-17 lead.

In the second half, Wittenberg put together a rally, but it was too little, too late. Trailing by 15 points with 5:45 remaining, the Tigers scored six straight points over the next two minutes, but a pair of three-pointers that could have cut the deficit to six points were off the mark and Hiram closed the game out on a 9-4 run over the final 2:07.

The Tigers, ranked 21st in the nation and coming off perhaps their most complete performance of the season in a 61-43 victory over Wabash on Wednesday, were paced by senior Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh), who hit 7-of-8 free throws to finish with 15 points to go along with six rebounds. Senior Clayton Black (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) finished with a double-double of 12 points, putting him just five short of 1,000 for his career, and 11 rebounds.

While Wittenberg struggled mightily from the floor, including a 5-of-27 performance from three-point range, the Tigers did shoot 93 percent (14-of-15) from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle 41-37.