Heading into Friday's NCAC Semifinal match-up against the nation's 17th ranked team, the Big Red were a confident bunch. Fittingly, there are no history majors on the Denison squad. If there were, the team might have known that Denison had not defeated Wittenberg in Springfield since 1950. If they were a team of stat geeks they may have been aware that the Big Red had never advanced to an NCAC Tournament championship game.
Maybe they knew. They certainly didn't play as if they did. Denison utilized a scintillating first half and a healthy bit of grit and determination in the second to upset Wittenberg, 66-58.
Over the past month this Denison squad has played with an urgency that only a team full of senior leaders could demonstrate. They closed out their quarterfinal with a 52 point second half to defeat Wabash and on Friday they opened with a 22-4 run in the first half and took a 20-point lead into the locker room.
"The kids executed the game plan to-a-tee, offensively," said head coach Bob Ghiloni. "We got the game spread out and we played with a lot of positive emotion."
In that first half Denison got 12 points and 10 rebounds from Dimonde Hale as DU shot 50 percent from the field while limiting the Tigers to just an 8-for-25 start. Turnovers and second-chance opportunities were critical to DU's outburst. Eight of Denison's 38 points came off turnovers and eight points also came off offensive rebounds.
As he did on Tuesday, Larry Farmer found his groove early, connecting on a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to hush the home crowd and give Denison a 19-2 lead.
Jon Akpaunam would follow with another trifecta, putting the visitors up 22-4 only seven minutes into the contest.
The Tigers would begin to warm up as the first half wore on, but Denison maintained their lead by crashing the boards and challenging virtually every Tiger shot attempt.
Entering the second half, even with a 20-point lead, Denison knew they would have a battle on their hands. Wittenberg opened the half on a 7-2 run and cut the lead to 15 with 15:49 to play. Clearly not as sharp on the offensive end as they were in the first, DU would have to gut out the final 10 minutes of the contest. Dimonde Hale threw down a nice alley-oop dunk from Larry Farmer and Mike Garabedian followed with a 3-pointer to put his team back up 18 with 9:40 remaining.
The tide would begin to turn in Wittenberg's favor when Steven Newell knocked down a 3-pointer after a long offensive rebound was tipped in his direction. After a turnover at the other end, Zack Leahy drilled a pull-up jumper that cut the Denison lead to 11 with 7:44 to go. Two free throws by Wittenberg's Scott Masin got the game to a single-digit deficit for the first time since the opening minutes of the contest.
Fast-forward to the 3:14 mark and Hale missed a short runner in the lane and in transition, Wittenberg's Cam Walton knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key, making the score 57-50 with 3:06 remaining.
DU would convert at the free throw line to go back up nine but the Tigers would get a break with 1:36 on the clock when Josh McKee was fouled on a 3-point attempt. He sank two of three shots moving the score to 59-52.
After a pair of Hale free throws, Wittenberg's Michael Cooper hit a triple and then the Tiger defense forced DU into a turnover at mid court. Looking to ride the wave of momentum, Newell let fly a quick three that was down, then popped out. Farmer secured the rebound, was fouled and calmly hit both critical free throws, making it a three possession game with under a minute to play.
After a split at the free throw line, McKee hit a 3-pointer from the corner, moving the score to 64-58 with 21 seconds to play. The Tigers would foul Hale, who was 6-of-6 from the line at that point. The 58 percent free throw shooter who has been red hot of late, sank the pair to extend the lead to eight. A last gasp 3-pointer by Josh McKee would go off the mark and Denison was on its way to the NCAC title game.
"We talked to the guys at halftime and we knew they would make a run. We had to stick to our gameplan. We knew the game would get more physical but we were determined not to let some of the problems that plagued us earlier in the year hurt us tonight. Those early season struggles are finally paying off and this team has learned how to win," said Ghiloni.
Denison was led by Hale's 20 points and 15 rebounds. He was 8-for-8 from the free throw line, making him 17-of-20 from the charity stripe over the last two games. Farmer followed with 15 points and 13 boards while Alex Longi chipped in eight points.
DU outrebounded Wittenberg 38-34 and committed only 11 turnovers to the Tigers' 14. The Big Red improve to 14-13 overall while Wittenberg drops to 21-6. This is Denison's first win over the Tigers since the 2004-05 season and its first win in Springfield since the 1949-50 season. Denison will take on The College of Wooster in its very first NCAC Tournament Championship appearance at 7 p.m. from Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, Ohio.