GAMBIER, Ohio --  Wittenberg University (10-14, 8-9 NCAC) converted 23-of-29 from the free throw line and got 20 points from Cody Phillippi to edge Kenyon College (7-17, 5-12 NCAC) by a score of 80-75 Wednesday night in a North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Tomsich Arena.

Phillippi hit all four of his free throw attempts and drained a game-high four 3-pointers to lead the Tigers. Jaelin Williams added 12 points and six rebounds while Chris Sloneker chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds to round out Wittenberg's double-digit scoring efforts.

Kenyon's Tim Connolly contributed 20 points to lead the Lords. The junior from San Francisco came off the bench to hit 9-of-18 from the field and grab a game-high seven rebounds. Phillip Crampton tallied 11 points and grabbed four rebounds while Cooper Handelsman scored 11 points as well. Senior Jonathan Amador chipped in with 12 points and Brien Comey scored 10 points and blocked three shots.

The first half was highly contested with eight ties and four lead changes. Up until the 2:31 mark left in the half, neither team held a lead bigger than four points. With 2:31 left, Wittenberg's Connor Hartnett converted a fast-break layup to put the Tigers up six, 29-23. They took a 31-26 lead into the locker room.

Wittenberg started the second half on fire scoring the first 9 points and got a 40-26 advantage following an Alex Fultz layup a little over 90 seconds in.

Kenyon remained down as many as 14 points (51-37) over the next six minutes until they fought back to tie the game.

The Lords used a 14-0 run highlighted by eight straight points from Connolly to tie the game at 51 with just less than 10 minutes remaining.

After Connolly tied the game, the ensuing possession saw Bennett Grigull hit a free throw and push the Lords ahead 52-51. As it turned out though, it was the final lead for Kenyon.

Wittenberg went back up following a three-pointer from Phillippi at 54-52 with 8:13 left.  The Tigers got back up by double digits (72-62) before Kenyon made another run.

With 48 seconds left, Kenyon found a three-pointer from the left corner from Connor Garrity to make it a one-possession game. On the ensuing inbound, the Tigers were called for an offensive foul and it turned into a jumper from Amador that brought the score to 76-75 Wittenberg with 34 seconds left.

Williams was then fouled, he hit both free throws, but it still gave the Lords a chance to tie.

Unfortunately, the Lords didn't get a three-pointer to fall even though they got three good looks from Garrity, Handelsman, and Connolly.

Kenyon travels next to Wabash (16-8, 11-6 NCAC) for a 3 p.m. game on February 21.