SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Wittenberg led nearly wire-to-wire in a 79-55 victory over the visiting Capital Crusaders on Wednesday night in the Tigers' home debut, securing a significant milestone in the process.
Besides improving the Tigers to 2-1 overall, the win delivered the 500th overall victory in the distinguished career of Head Coach Bill Brown in his 26th season in command of an NCAA Division III team. He becomes just the 14th active Div. III head coach to reach the mark, and only the 32nd all-time.
Capital tied things up at 9-9 early and shortly later sank a three-point shot eight minutes into the first half to make it a 14-12 Wittenberg lead, but from there on out it was all Tigers. The hosts promptly mounted a 10-point run to grab a 24-12 lead and never looked back.
By halftime, the lead had ballooned to 21 points thanks in large part to 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and 3-of-4 three-point shooting from sophomore Alex Fultz (Cincinnati, Ohio/Glen Este). Senior Scott Masin (New Carlisle, Ohio/Bethel) also posted a perfect 4-for-4 shooting performance from the field with 4-of-5 free throws in the opening period.
As a team the Tigers shot 18-of-28 for a 64 percent mark from the floor in the first period.
The Tigers' hot hands cooled in the second half but not by enough to let Capital back into the game. Wittenberg went 10-for-22 (45.5 percent) from the field in the half to finish the game with a field goal pace of 56 percent.
The Tigers kept up the pressure on the other end of the court, holding Capital to a shooting mark of 33 percent on 18 makes in 55 attempts. Wittenberg also held a statistical edge in several other categories, with 36 points in the paint to Capital's 24 and 16 second chance points to Capital's two.
For the contest, Wittenberg was paced by Masin's 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting and nine rebounds, including six offensive boards. Fultz finished up with a 5-of-9 shooting line, including 3-of-6 three-point shooting and six rebounds, to finish even with freshman Shane Edwards (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) as they each posted 14 points.
Senior Zack Leahy (Rossford, Ohio/Rossford) followed with nine points while junior Sam Collins (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) delivered seven with six rebounds, and freshman Cody Phillippi (Xenia, Ohio/Xenia) went 3-for-5 from the field for six points. Leahy led the effort with four assists, while he, Collins, Fultz and freshman Brock Kiesler (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) all compiled two steals.
The Tigers open the North Coast Athletic Conference schedule with the first of four league games before the New Year with a 3 p.m. game versus Oberlin College on Sunday, Nov. 24, at Pam Evans Smith Arena.