Junior guard Henry Hinkle converted a 3-point play to give the Ohio Wesleyan men’s basketball team a 7-point lead, but Wittenberg rallied to send the game into overtime and went on to an 85-80 North Coast Athletic Conference win over the Bishops on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.
Hinkle’s 3-point play staked the Bishops to a 67-60 lead with 3:28 left in regulation time.
Wittenberg scored the next 7 points, getting lay-ins from Garyson Steury and Dawson Scott to close to within 67-64 before a Trey Killens 3-pointer evened the score with 1:26 remaining.
Junior wing David Rice knocked down a jumper for a 69-67 Ohio Wesleyan lead, but Wittenberg’s Eddie Brown sank a pair of free throws to make it 69-69 with :17 left.
After a timeout with :12 left, Hinkle drove the left side and dished to Rice, who had cut to the basket, but Rice’s lay-in didn’t fall, and the game went to overtime.
The Tigers scored the first 6 points of the extra session as Killens drove for a lay-in, Brown split a pair of free throws, and Killens sank a 3-pointer.
Sophomore wing Isaac Ward answered with a 3-pointer for the Bishops, and Ohio Wesleyan would pull within a single marker on a fast-break dunk by Rice that made it 77-76 with 1:53 to go.
The Bishops were still within 81-80 after a Rice lay-in with :20 left, but the Tigers put the game away at the free throw line, with Cameron Harrison and Killens each sinking a pair.
Wittenberg raced to an early 7-2 lead with the help of a Harrison 3-pointer, and the Tigers still led by a 14-7 count before 3-pointers by Ward and sophomore wing Jessee Battle started a 25-7 outburst that gave Ohio Wesleyan a 32-21 lead with 1:30 remaining in the first half. The Bishops led, 34-25, at the break, and remained in front until the final 90 seconds of regulation time.
Ward led the Bishops with a career-high 21 points. Hinkle finished with 18 points, and Rice, Battle, and senior post Tony Carter scored 11 points apiece, with Carter grabbing a team-high 8 rebounds.
WRESTLING
Junior Geoffrey Kaminski, sophomore Othman Taha, and sophomore Joe Shoup placed for Ohio Wesleyan at the ONU Invitational, hosted by Albion College on Sunday in Albion, Mich.
Tiffin won the meet with 219 points to 166½ for Ohio Northern. Dubuque finished third with 113½ points, followed by Heidelberg (105), Adrian (100½), Olivet (99), Lycoming (96½), Otterbein (63½), and Mount St. Joseph (59). Alma rounded out the top 10 teams with 48 points, followed by Ohio Wesleyan (39½), Muskingum (36), Washington & Jefferson (29½), and Hiram (6).
Kaminski placed fifth in the 197-pound bracket. After a first-round bye, Kaminski posted an 11-5 win over Brandon Thomas of Otterbein and an 8-7 decision over Ivan Neal of Lycoming to advance to the semifinals. In a semifinal bout, Kaminski lost to Aiden Belgiorno of Heidelberg, and in a consolation bracket semifinal, Kaminski lost a 9-8 decision to Cole Williams of Ohio Northern.
In the fifth-place match, Kaminski won by medical forfeit over Tyler Thurston of Dubuque.
Taha finished sixth at 174. Taha opened with a 22-16 decision over John Radey of Ohio Northern and a 10-2 major decision over Ridge Vlha of Dubuque to move into the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Taha lost a 16-9 deicision to David Davis of Tiffin, but bounced back to advance in the consolation bracket with a 5-2 win over Thomas McCreadie of Dubuque and a 7-3 decision over John Radey of Ohio Northern.
In a consolation bracket semifinal, Taha lost by technical fall to Eli Crum of Lycoming, and in the fifth-place match, William Vernier of Alma was credited with the win as Taha had already reached the limit of 6 bouts.
Shoup placed eighth in the 285-pound bracket. After receiving a first-round bye, Shoup advanced with a 15-5 major decision over Lukas Zywicki of Adrian. In the quarterfinals, Shoup fell to Jadon Brownlee of Ohio Northern, but Shoup came back to record a 19-3 technical fall over Brody Miskimon of Alma.
In the fifth round of the consolation bracket, Shoup fell to Mason Slocum of Adrian, and in the seventh-place match, Shoup fell to Rowan Tolbert of Mount St. Joseph.
OWU Sports Information contributed to this report.
