Division I regional track finals
Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Springfield, Ohio High School Sports > Archives > 2009 > February > 16 > Entry
On this date in area sports history …
Nine years ago on this date, Feb. 16, 2000, Earlham beat the Wittenberg men for the first time ever in Springfield. Complete story on the jump.
WITTENBERG SHOOK BY QUAKERS
By Ken Paxson, News-Sun Sports Writer
Home is usually very sweet for Wittenberg, but these days things are even going sour on the Tigers’ home floor.
Earlham, which entered Wednesday’s game 0-14 at the HPER Center, handed the Tigers their 26th home loss in the last 17 years, 71-60, in front of about 800 astonished fans.
The win also gave the Quakers, who toppled Wittenberg, 95-88, in triple overtime on Feb. 2, an unprecedented season sweep of the Tigers, who hadn’t lost at home to Earlham since an 86-81 defeat on Dec. 2, 1955.
After staring the season 13-2, Wittenberg has lost four of its last eight games.
“The last couple of weeks we just haven’t been ourselves,” said WU freshman forward B.J. Harris, who turned 19 on Wednesday. “When we get down it’s like we don’t have any more fire. It’s hard to even talk about right now.”
Losing to Earlham did more than embarrass the Tigers, it dropped them into third in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings with just one game left in the regular season. Wittenberg, 17-6 and 11-4 in the NCAC, hosts first-place Wooster, 21-2 and 15-0, Saturday afternoon.
Wabash, 17-6 and 12-3, took advantage of Earlham’s upset and now owns sole possession of second place after a 71-68 win over Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday.
The top four seeds will host tournament quarterfinal games Tuesday, with the semifinals and final at Wooster on Feb. 25-26, respectively.
The winner of the NCAC tourney gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
As of right now, third-place Wittenberg would host sixth-place Allegheny — an 81-72 winner over Hiram Wednesday — in the quarters, but the postseason was the last thing on anyone’s mind after losing to Earlham.
Harris hopes that playing arch-rival Wooster will get the Tigers back on track. The Scots ripped Wittenberg, 81-62, in Wooster on Jan. 22.
“Man, if us playing Wooster on our home court after getting beat so bad up there doesn’t bring fire to everybody’s eyes … I wouldn’t even be looking to the postseason,” he said. “It’s got to start Saturday. It’s got to start somewhere.”
Getting started wasn’t a problem for the Tigers Wednesday, as they hit their first three shots and took a 6-0 lead after three minutes.
That, though, is when Wittenberg’s engine began to sputter.
The Wright brothers — guards Jamar and Curtis — got the Quakers, 9-14 and 9-6 in the NCAC, revved up and Earlham quickly erased the lead and pulled away.
Curtis Wright led the emotionally charged Quakers with 10 points and three steals in the first half and Jamar Wright added six points as Earlham shot to a 34-24 halftime advantage.
The duo combined for eight assists and Curtis led the Quakers with 19 points, which helped make up for the lack of production from forward Nathan Stoops, who torched the Tigers for 25 points in their earlier meeting.
Stoops had 12 points Wednesday.
“Beating Wittenberg twice in one year is amazing,” Curtis Wright said. “It all comes down to how much hard work we put into it and how much heart we have.”
Heart and desire appeared to be lacking in the Tigers, who could get no closer than eight points in the second half.
Center Chris Fillmore paced Wittenberg with 17 points and forward Ryan Taylor added 12, but the Tigers haven’t shown the same drive since losing starting forward Kevin Longley and backup point guard Kyle Krauss to ankle injuries on Feb. 5
“They followed their game plan and wanted it a whole lot more than us,” said WU Coach Bill Brown, who hopes to have Longley and Krauss back Tuesday. “When adversity hits, we’re in trouble. We haven’t handled the adversity we’ve faced in the last two weeks with any toughness at all.”
Earlham 71, Wittenberg 60
EARLHAM (71) — Hathaway 5-11 0-1 14, Stoops 3-9 4-5 12, Suttle 2-5 0-0 4, C. Wright 6-11 4-4 19, J. Wright 5-9 0-0 10, Elsworth 1-4 0-0 3, Brett 0-0 2-2 3, O’Reilly 2-4 0-0 4. Totals: 25-54 10-12 71.
WITTENBERG (60) — Taylor 4-12 3-4 12, Harris 3-8 2-3 8, Fillmore 6-10 5-5 17, Stahl 3-8 0-0 1, Stafford 2-6 0-0 4, Rustad 1-3 2-4 4, Mossing 0-2 2-2 2, Gratsch 2-5 2-2 6. Totals: 21-54 16-20 60.
Halftime: Earlham, 34-24. Three-point goals: Earlham 11-28 (Hathaway 4-10, Stoops 2-7, Suttle 0-1, C. Wright 3-4, J. Wright 0-2, Elsworth 1-3, Beck 1-1), Wittenberg 2-14 (Taylor 1-6, Fillmore 0-1, Stahl 1-4, Stafford 0-2, Mossing 0-1). Shooting percentages: Earlham .463, Wittenberg .389. Assists: Earlham 13 (C. Wright, J. Wright 4), Wittenberg 7 (Stahl, Stafford, Rustad 2). Turnovers: Earlham 9, Wittenberg 12. Personal fouls: Earlham 19, Wittenberg 16. Technical Fouls: None. Fouled out: None. Records: Earlham 9-14, 9-6 NCAC; Wittenberg 17-6, 11-4. Officials: Frank Vitt, Dave Danhoff, Kyle Ingram. A: 824.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: College Basketball, College Men's Basketball, Earlham College, On this date, Wittenberg
Comments