SPRINGFIELD – It was a homecoming for head coach Andy Bucheit on Saturday, facing his alma mater Wittenberg on the road.  The Student Princes came out hot, taking a decisive lead in the first half, but Wittenberg was able to take momentum into halftime.  That momentum transferred into the second half where Heidelberg was unable to grind out the win, falling by a final score of 73-67.

KEY STATS

Heidelberg shot just 38.1% from the floor compared to 54.9% for the host Tigers.

Wittenberg out-rebounded the Student Princes 39-28 in the contest.

DeAvery Collins scored 13 points off the bench, shooting 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc.

FIRST HALF

It was a quick start for Heidelberg and they build the lead out to 18-13 after Marcquice Taylor drilled a 3-pointer at the 11:17 mark.

After Wittenberg knotted the score at 20, the Student Princes went on a 12-3 run thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Collins and a fastbreak layup by Taylor.

With just under a minute to play and Heidelberg holding a six point advantage, Kiere' Bennie broke away for a layup in transition, but missed the bucket.  Wittenberg made the Student Princes pay for the mistake, knocking down a 3-pointer and a layup before the end of the period to cut the Heidelberg lead to just one entering halftime.

SECOND HALF

Jumpers by Bennie and Jackson Blue gave the Student Princes a five-point lead early in the second period.

After Wittenberg battled back to take a one-point advantage, Heidelberg scored six straight to take a five-point lead after Collins made a jumper.

At this point, the host Tigers made the pivotal run in the game, regaining the lead for what would be the final time.  Wittenberg was able to break through the defensive pressure of Heidelberg to maintain a small lead through the remainder of the game.

Heidelberg was able to cut the lead down to six with 20 seconds to play after Taylor made a 3-pointer, but it was too little, too late, as Heidelberg was unable to overcome the hot-shooting of Wittenberg in the second half.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

The pressure defense for Heidelberg was on display again as they forced Wittenberg into 19 turnovers, a season-high for the Tigers.

This was the third game of the season that Heidelberg has shot under 40% from the field.  The Student Princes have lost each of those three games.

NOTABLE QUOTES

Head coach Andy Bucheit on what changed the game down the stretch: "We knew we were going up against a good team.  Wittenberg was 2-6 coming into this game, but they are not a 2-6 basketball team by any means.  They have a lot of experience back from a team that went to the NCAA tournament last year.  They're inserting some new players into that rotation as well, and I think some of their experience started to take over down the stretch."

Coach Bucheit on his team's struggles: "We had trouble shooting the basketball today.  I told our guys this wasn't from a lack of effort or lack of intensity because we had all that.  We just missed some open shots and made some poor decisions down the stretch where we had players in positions to score and they made the wrong decision."

Bucheit on coaching against his alma mater: "It was a lot of fun, coach Brown is a coaching legend.  He's won a lot of big games and had a lot of very, very good teams.  I respect coach Brown a lot, and if it wasn't for my time at Wittenberg, who knows where I would be.  I'm very grateful for the opportunities I had here, so there was a lot of emotion tied to it.  We wanted to win and our guys wanted to win for me, I could tell by the way there were playing."

Coach Bucheit on his team moving forward: "Our guys have to continue to work hard and stay bought-in, which they will.  We're just made shots and made free throws away from being 7-1.  The games we've lost, we've shot poorly and if we can clean that up, we're going to be really good."

UP NEXT

The Student Princes will take a brief break for Christmas before returning to action at the Defiance College Tournament on December 29^th.  Heidelberg's first contest in that tournament will be against Lakeland, with tip-off scheduled for 5:00 p.m.