GRANVILLE, Ohio (January 4, 2023) – The Denison University men's basketball team kicked off 2023 in a big way as the Big Red earned a 78-56 win at home in North Coast Athletic Conference action over Wittenberg University on Wednesday night inside Livingston Gymnasium.
In a series where the visiting team had won each of the last five contests between the two teams, Denison put an end to that trend by finishing the game on a 12-0 run.
Ricky Radtke would finish with 24 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, all while shooting 9-for-11 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line.
Darren Rubin was next with 19 points on a trio of 3-pointers while
Dre Rodgers finished with nine points and both
Tyler Miller and
Scotty Dean added eight points on two 3-pointers.
Denison took its first lead of the game at 23-22 on a pair of free throws by Radtke with 5:19 left in the first half. That capped a 7-0 run that started with a steal and a layup by Dean followed by a 3-pointer on Miller on the nice assist from inside by Radtke.
Denison's largest lead of the first half (33-26) came thanks to another 3-pointer by Miller with a minute and a half remaining in the period before the Big Red took a 33-28 lead into the break.
Then tied at 38-38 three and a half minutes into the second half, Denison used another 7-0 run to take the lead as an and-one by Radtke followed by a nifty layup in transition by Rubin and then a transition dunk by Radtke assisted by Rubin made it 45-38 Big Red five minutes into the period.
Denison continued to build upon its lead as a steal and a layup by Rubin made it 49-40 six minutes into the second half while an and-one by Rodgers made it 52-40 less than two minutes later and then a 3-pointer by Dean made it a 10-2 run to put the Big Red ahead 55-42 with 11 minutes remaining.
However, after a 10-2 Wittenberg run made it 57-52 with eight and half minutes to go, Denison answered with a layup by Radtke assisted by Rodgers, followed by a layup by Rodgers himself and then a 3-pointer by Rubin to get the lead back to double digits at 64-52 with six and half minutes left to play. From there, the Tigers never got to back within single digits of the Big Red.
The game was also the start of a three-game homestand for Denison, which improved to .500 overall both overall (6-6) and in the NCAC (2-2) while Wittenberg dropped to 5-7 and 1-3. Next up, Denison will continue its three-game homestand to kick off 2023 by hosting Kenyon College at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 7, followed by an 8 p.m. contest against Ohio Wesleyan University on Wednesday, January 11.
