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Wittenberg 75, Ohio Wesleyan 69 (2/22/2002)

SPRINGFIELD -- Rod Emmons, Kevin Longley and Greg Rustad hit free throws in the final minute as Wittenberg held off an Ohio Wesleyan comeback in a North Coast Athletic Conference tournament semifinal game on Friday.

Trailing, 70-59, with 7:41 to play, the Bishops held the Tigers off the scoreboard for over 5 minutes while pecking away at the lead. Sophomore center Travis Schwab (Medina) hit a lay-in with 7:19 remaining, then sophomore guard Shawn Kindred (Delaware/Hayes) scored with 6:03 left to make the score 70-63.

Schwab followed with 2 free throws at the 4:54 mark and a jumper with 2:46 left to bring the Bishops within 70-67, and after another Wittenberg miss, Kindred cleared the rebound and Ohio Wesleyan had the ball with a chance to tie the game.

But junior guard Jason Dopoulos (Strongsville) misfired on his potential game-tying 3-pointer, and Wittenberg's B.J. Harris broke the string of 7 straight Tiger misses with an inside basket that gave the hosts a 72-67 lead.

Dopoulos and freshman forward Brandon Cole (Sidney) missed shots for the Bishops before Ohio Wesleyan was forced to send the Tigers to the line. Emmons, Longley and Rustad each hit one of 2 shots from the line, but the 3 points were enough to hold on to the lead as Ohio Wesleyan was only able to counter with a putback bucket by Cole with :09 remaining.

Kindred led the Bishops with 21 points, while Schwab finished with 19 points and had team highs of 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

Emmons led Wittenberg with 13 points and Harris finished with 12 points.