The Pioneers (2-1) opened the game cold from the field and fell behind by 10, 14-4, just eight and a half minutes into the contest. Wittenberg (4-0) steadily increased its lead to a high of 17, 31-14, at intermission as the Pioneers shot just 20 percent (five of 24) over the opening 20 minutes.
The Tigers, an NCAA Tournament team and the preseason favorites to win the North Coast Athletic Conference, answered with 45 percent shooting from the field, including five of 10 from three-point range in the opening period.
Wittenberg would build its lead to an many as 21, 37-16, early in the second half before Transy came back.
Transy chipped away gradually, getting the margin to single digits at 47-39 on a layup by freshman forward Joey Verax with just under nine minutes to play. Tyler Howard's three put the Tigers up by 11 again, but Transy went on a 12-5 run to get within four, 55-51, on Stephen Gabbard's three with 4:22 to go. Marc Bain had four points in the run while Matt Finke had three and Joey Searle two.
But that would be Transy's last score as the Tigers held on.
Searle had team highs of 12 points and seven rebounds and was the only Pioneer in double figures. Verax had eight, matching Bain's total, while Gabbard finished with six. Finke had five points and seven rebounds while Bryan Howard, Transy's leading scorer with a 15 points a game average heading into the contest, was held to two points and one rebound.
Wittenberg got 12 points from 6-8 center Dan Russ and 10 from guard Greg Hill off the bench. Howard had nine points. Russ also had eight rebounds as the taller Tigers had a 36-29 edge on the boards.
Transy finished the game shooting 33 percent from the field (18 of 54), including just six of 26 (23 percent) from long range. Wittenberg shot 46 percent overall and 57 percent from three-point range (eight of 14).
The Pioneers return to action on Wednesday, hosting Otterbein at 7 p.m.