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Wittenberg 67, Ohio Wesleyan 64 (2/6/2002)

Mark Borland's 3-point basket with :30 to play lifted Wittenberg over Ohio Wesleyan in North Coast Athletic Conference action on Wednesday at Branch Rickey Arena.

Trailing, 58-48, with 8:30 to play, the Bishops came back. Freshman forward Seth Rhea (Delaware/Hayes) buried a 3-pointer, then tipped in his own missed shot a few possessions later. Sophomore center Travis Schwab (Medina) followed with a lay-in and Ohio Wesleyan had sliced the deficit to 58-55 with 6:21 remaining.

Wittenberg still led, 64-59, on a B.J. Harris putback with 4:44 left in regulation, but the Bishops tied the game on a 3-pointer by junior guard Jason Dopoulos (Strongsville) and a driving reverse lay-up by junior guard Kyle Comstock (Sunbury/Buckeye Valley) that left matters deadlocked at 64-64 with 3:13 remaining.

Defense and rebounding took over from there as neither team could score the go-ahead basket despite a handful of chances.

Sophomore guard Shawn Kindred (Delaware/Hayes) finally appeared to put the Bishops ahead, but his driving lay-in circled the rim and went out with :56 to play. Kindred was called for a foul on the rebound, but it was only Ohio Wesleyan's sixth team foul and Wittenberg got possession of the ball.

After a Tiger timeout with :48 left, Borland found some space about 20 feet from the hoop, and his shot was true, giving Wittenberg the lead.

Ohio Wesleyan went to Kindred, whose potential game-tying 3-point shot was off, and Harris corralled the rebound with :16 left. Kindred fouled Harris immediately, and the strategy paid off when Harris missed the front end of the ensuing one-and-one and the Bishops cleared the rebound.

This time, it was Dopoulos who fired up a potential game-tying 3-pointer, but his shot was short and a trio of Tigers pounced on the rebound as the clock ran out.

Wittenberg jumped to an early 9-4 lead as Borland swished his first 3 3-point attempts. Then Ohio Wesleyan got hot from downtown, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Rhea and another from Comstock to take a 22-21 lead. Wittenberg came back to lead by a score of 26-22, but the Bishops ran off 11 straight points on 3-pointers by Comstock, Dopoulos and Kindred and then a Kindred steal and lay-in, giving Ohio Wesleyan a 33-26 lead with :19 left in the first half.

But Wittenberg' Rod Emmons stole the momentum back with a 3-pointer just :02 before the buzzer at halftime. The Tigers carried that momentum over into the second half, going on a 19-4 run to begin the period and opening up a 48-37 lead before Ohio Wesleyan's comeback.

Schwab led the Bishops with 14 points, while Rhea finished with 13, Comstock had 11 and a team-high 6 assists and Kindred contributed 10 points and 4 assists. Freshman forward Brandon Cole (Sidney) had a team-high 9 rebounds.

Borland led Wittenberg with 17 points, going 5-for-5 from 3-point range, and Greg Rustad finished with 14 points. Harris led all players with 12 rebounds.