Gators Pull Off Upset at Wittenberg

Feb 26, 2008

BOX SCORE

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gators snapped a four-game North Coast Athletic Conference tournament losing streak, advancing to the conference semi-finals for the first time since the 2002-03 team fell in the championship game, with a two-point, 65-63 victory over the Tigers of Wittenberg University. In addition to snapping the streak for Allegheny, the Gators provided the first opening round NCAC tournament loss for the Tigers in their rich school history.

Wittenberg got the first points of the game when post Mark Snyder made good on a three-point play 20 seconds into the game. The Tigers kept their lead until the 13:23 mark remaining in the half, when Ben Torsney (Morgantown, W.Va./Morgantown) hit a lay-in. The Gators scored next off of a George Raftis (Sewickley, Pa./Sewickley Academy) basket, capping a 6-0 Allegheny run.

The game remained tight, with the Gators clinging to a one-point, 16-15 lead before the visitors from Meadville ran off a 7-0 run on a pair of free throws from Raftis, a three-pointer by Doug Price (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) and another lay-in by Raftis, giving Allegheny an eight-point, 23-15 advantage.

Allegheny pushed their lead to as many as 12 on two separate occasions, both times after a Bill Babe (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) free throw and most recently at 33-21 with 1:40 remaining on the first-half clock. Wittenberg finished strong, scoring four of the final five points of the half, cutting Allegheny’s halftime advantage to nine at 34-25.

The nine-point halftime advantage was aided by hitting a blistering 12-of-20 (60.0 percent) from the field and 3-of-4 (75.0 percent) from long range. Conversely, Wittenberg hit just 9-of-28 shots from the field and missed all seven of their three-point attempts. The main saving grace for the Tigers was a perfect 7-of-7 half at the charity stripe, while Allegheny hit just 7-of-11 on its free tries.

The Tigers came out of the second-half gate strong, out-scoring the Gators 14-6 over the first seven minutes, cutting the deficit to one before Torsney converted on a three-point play, pushing the Allegheny advantage back to four. Wittenberg closed back within two before Charlie Jaicks (Gibsonia, Pa./Mars) hit a pair of three point baskets to re-up Allegheny’s lead to eight halfway through the second half.

Up by eight, the teams traded three-point baskets, Wittenberg’s by Gregg Hill and Allegheny’s by Craig Devinney (Allison Park, Pa./Shaler). The teams went on a two-minute cold spell before the teams once again traded baskets, two-pointers from Sam Gregory for the Tigers and Torsney for the Gators. Allegheny pushed its lead to 10 following Devinney’s third three-point basket of the game with 5:03.

Once the advantage reached double figures again, the Gators got sloppy with the ball, turning the ball over on each of their next four possessions; however, Wittenberg was only able to capitalize for four points, cutting the deficit to six with 2:37 remaining in the game. After seeing their deficit reach six, Brandon Barabino hit a pair of free throws to make it a four point game, before hitting a three-pointer on the next possession to turn the contest into a one-point game, 59-58 in favor of the Gators.

Devinney was able to push the Allegheny lead to three with a basket 37 seconds left and Barabino was unable to hit his second on the second-straight possession, giving the Gators ball with 30 seconds to play in the game. Price hit a pair of free throws to push the advantage to five before Hill hit an uncontested lay-in with 24 seconds remaining, cutting the deficit to three yet again. With 21 ticks left on the clock, Jaicks came up empty on the front end of a one-and-the-bonus, before Hill drilled a three-pointer to tie the game at 63 apiece with 10 seconds remaining. After a Wittenberg timeout, Jaicks made up for the free throw miss with a jumper in the lane with four seconds remaining in the contest, giving Allegheny the 65-63 lead. A turnover as time expired gave the Gators the upset victory at Pam Evans Smith Arena.

Devinney scored a game-high 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, with Torsney scoring 13 and Raftis and Jaicks each scoring 10. Torsney pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, while Larry Sharp (North Wales, Pa./Germantown Academy), Raftis and Price each dished out three assists to pace the team.

Wittenberg got 14 points from both Hill and Barabino, with the latter missing a double-double by just one rebound and also leading the team with five assists.

The Gators will face the winner of the Ohio Wesleyan/Hiram game, originally scheduled for tonight but was postponed until Wednesday due to inclement weather, with the game being played at the highest remaining seed.

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