A year after taking then-top ranked Wittenberg to the wire on their home courts, the Gators made good at the upset, as Casey McCloskey (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) scored a team-high 14 points with Ben Torsney (Morgantown, W.Va./Morgantown) and Ryan Hollihan (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) each adding 12, despite being saddled with foul trouble early in the first half.
The game was tightly contested for the full 40 minutes, as Allegheny, who evened their record to 12-12 and 8-8 in league play, scored the first four points of the contest. The Tigers answered by scoring eight of the next 11 points to take a one-point, 8-7 lead when Dane Borchers put in two of his game-high 22 points with 14:38 remaining in the opening stanza. Back-to-back three pointers, one by Larry Sharp (North Wales, Pa./Germantown Academy) and the other by Torsney, just his second of the season, gave Allegheny a five-point lead, one that they would not give up for the remainder of the contest.
The first-half lead grew to as many as eight when McCloskey converted a three-point play with just under six minutes until halftime. Wittenberg (21-4, 13-3 NCAC) cut the deficit to two with 48 seconds left before Bill Babe (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) hit a three-point basket as time expired, sending the Gators into the locker room with a five-point, 31-26 lead.
Torsney put the Gators up by eight early in the second half with his second trifecta of the game and third of the season, before the visitors closed to within two with 11:12 left after a Brandon White three-point play. Seven straight points by the Blue and Gold, a three by McCloskey and a pair of baskets by Jimmy Savage (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover), his only points of the game, gave Allegheny a nine-point lead, one they increased to 11 with 5:24 to play in the contest.
After Wittenberg cut the Allegheny lead to four with 3:09 remaining in the contest after seven straight points, four from Jack Hemenway and three from Brandan Barabino, before the Gators made good from the charity stripe, hitting seven of nine free throws down the stretch to hold on for the upset.
Babe added 10 points for the Gators, while also dishing out a team-best four assists and picking up three steals. Savage grabbed nine rebounds, as the Blue and Gold out-rebounded Wittenberg 38-32 for the contest. Hollihan blocked a trio of shots, giving him 35 on the season, tying for the fifth best single season total in school history, while his 74 in his career is also the fifth best total, two behind fourth place Matt Majzlik (2001-06) and four behind third place Eric Lindberg (1976-80).
Wittenberg was led by its inside game, with Borchers and Hemenway pouring in 22 and 19 points, respectively, combining to score 41 of the team’s 57 points (72 percent). Barabino added seven points, while Borchers picked up his 11th double-double of the 2006-07 season by pulling down a game-high 11 boards. David Nowicki dished out a quartet of assists, with Billy Bowen grabbing a pair of steals.
With the win, the Gators will play host in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since 2002-03, head coach Rob Clune’s first season with the Gators. The team will play host to the Wabash College Little Giants, who defeated Kenyon College 77-74 this afternoon to pick up the fifth seed. The game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. and will follow the women’s basketball NCAC first-round game featuring the third seeded Allegheny College women and the sixth seeded College of Wooster Fighting Scots which tips off at 5:30 p.m.