GRANVILLE, Ohio (February 14, 2024) – Playing in its final game of the regular season, the Denison University men's basketball team came up short by a final score of 79-71 at home against Wittenberg University on Wednesday. The Big Red will finish the regular season in fourth place in the North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball standings for the second year in a row, and will now host their NCAC quarterfinal matchup next week.
Simply put, Wittenberg shot the lights out, finishing at 58.6 percent (17-for-29) overall in the first half while making 9-for-11 3-pointers (81.8 percent) and then making each of its four shots and seven of its first nine shots (77.8 percent) in the second half.
The Tigers led by 18 points (48-30) at halftime after closing out the period with two 3-pointers in the final two minutes, and then led by as many as 19 points (57-38) just under three and a half minutes into the second half.
Two free throws by
Ricky Radtke with 13:13 left cut the deficit to nine points (58-49) and capped an 11-1 Big Red run that was highlighted by seven points and a dunk by Radtke.
Denison would not get closer than to within nine until the final minute of the game after a 3-pointer by
Gates Flynn with 33 seconds left and a layup by
Scotty Dean with 15 seconds left.
Wittenberg finished the second half at 50 percent (9-18) shooting, shot 55.3 percent for the game, and saw its top two scorers combine to shoot 7-or-7 from 3-point range. Denison, meanwhile, shot 15-for-28 (53.6 percent) from the field in the second half but was just 2-for-11 from three in the second half and 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) from three for the game, hampering the Big Red's attempt at a comeback.
Despite the loss, the Big Red did outscore the Tigers 45-30 in bench points, 36-28 on points in the paint and 13-9 in points off turnovers.
In his return to action, Radtke finished with a game-high 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field while also adding six rebounds. Next was
Aidan King with 12 points and Heath with 11 points on three 3-pointers. All three of Denison's leading scorers came off of the bench.
With the loss, Denison finishes its regular season 14-11 overall. The Big Red also finished 10-6 in the NCAC for the second year in row and will be the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament for the second year in a row. It is the first time the Big Red have finished in the top-four in the NCAC standings in back-to-back seasons since doing so in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Next up, Denison will host the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday, February 20, inside Livingston Gymnasium. Both the time and opponent will not be determined until the end of the regular season on Saturday, February 17.
