Box Score
GAMBIER, Ohio – Despite a very respectable defensive showing against a nationally-ranked opponent, the shooting woes continued for the Kenyon College men's basketball team in its 66-54 loss to No. 18 Wittenberg University, Wednesday night.
Tim Connolly served as a stunning bright spot after the sophomore set a new career high with 18 points off of the bench against the Tigers.
Wittenberg (13-3, 7-2 NCAC) set the tone early by jumping out to as large a lead as 12 points in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Playing off of foul trouble that plagued the Lords in the opening minutes, the Tigers ran out to a 16-2 run after Kenyon scored the opening bucket with help from a trio of baskets from Sam Collins paired with a three-pointer from Justin McDowell. Kenyon battled back to whittle the lead down to five after Connolly hit one of his four three-point shots followed by John Bray causing a turnover and scoring on the fastbreak. The Tigers retaliated and ended the half with Collins converting a pair of three-point plays after hard drives to the hoop plus ensuing free throw shots after being fouled. Kenyon never drew closer than a five-point margin.
Kenyon shot a paltry 29 percent from the field in the first half and only marginally improved in the second. Brian Lebowitz scored nine of his 13 points in the first half and had his fifth double-double just minutes after coming out of the locker room. Two cold stretches hurt the Lords' chances of coming back to defeat Wittenberg. Over a four-minute span prior to the midway point of the second half, the Lords missed five straight field goal attempts before sophomore Brien Comey broke that streak to cut the deficit to 11 points, 44-33. However, shortly after that stretch the Lords missed its opportunity to capitalize when the Tigers came up empty on four straight trips down the court. Scott Masin woke up after a quiet first half and converted an and-one opportunity, as did teammate Steven Newell in back-to-back possessions. Brock Kiesler's successful drive through the lane built Wittenberg's lead to 18 points, its largest of the game.
Connolly had a career day for the Lords, leading it on the offensive end and livening the crowd in the final minute of the contest with a steal and two consecutive three-point makes. He finished with a personal best 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and was perfect from behind the arc on all four of his attempts. More impressively, he did all this after picking up two quick fouls off the bench in a span of 1:07 early in the first half, and added two rebounds and three steals by game's end. His previous career high was seven points which he achieved twice, once against Otterbein University the season opener and again versus Earlham College at home on Nov. 25.
The Lords' defense did its job, holding the top scoring team in the North Coast Athletic Conference to just 66 points, 10 below its season average coming into the game. Kenyon held standout Scott Masin to just one point in the first half while keeping him off the boards with just six rebounds, total. However, the senior broke out for 13 points in the second half, six of those coming from the free throw line. Sam Collins led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points while Steven Newell joined them in double figures with 10 points. As a team Wittenberg shot 40.4 percent, still nearly seven percentage points lower than their league-leading average.
The win broke a two-game skid for the Tigers who previous to that won 10 straight and earned access into the nation's top-10. After falling to DePauw University and No. 2 The College of Wooster in back-to-back matches, the Tigers dropped to No. 18 in the latest rankings released earlier this week.
The loss drops Kenyon to 7-9 overall and 4-5 in NCAC play. They have now lost five of their last six games heading into this weekend's road matchup with Hiram College. The Lords and Terriers will tipoff this Saturday at 4 p.m.
