WHEELING, W.Va. - For the first half and the first minute or so of the second, the game and its momentum zigzaged from one team to another.
Then it broke Wheeling Jesuit's way, big time.
The Cardinals (2-0) took advantage of a no call at Tiffin's end to disrupt the Dragons' offense and kick start a dominating second half Saturday in a 92-66 win.
"I thought we did a nice job in the first half. In the second half, we just played played pretty poorly," TU coach John Hill said.
"We did a very nice job in the first half," he said. "We came out early in the second half and took the lead and had the ball [with the game tied at 43], and we thought we got fouled on a drive and they didn't call it, and after that ..."
After that came a 9-0 run to put Wheeling Jesuit in control at 52-43 with 15:17 to play.
Fact Box
Wheeling Jesuit 92, Tiffin 66
Tiffin (1-2): Mike Boan 3-3-9; Mike Brown 1-0-2; Michael Bouley 1-3-5; Eric Roby 3-0-8; Joe Graessle 7-5-21; Isaiah Twine 1-0-2; Sarwan Khan 0-1-1; Mohamed Rage 0-0-0; Andrew Bendolph 1-4-6; Jonathan Sutherlin 1-0-2; Cody Dennison 1-4-6; Khaleal McCormick 0-4-4; Keith Mackie 0-0-0. Totals: 19-24-66.
Wheeling Jesuit (2-0): Ben Siefert 5-1-13; Recardo Gaddy 1-0-3; Justin Fritts 12-0-31; Darin Harris 3-2-8; Joe Prati 7-9-26; Tim Goff 1-0-2; Philip Green 0-0-0; Steven Bridgeman 2-1-5; Jacob Sisson 0-0-0; Charles Bard 0-0-0; Aaron Dinterman 0-0-0; Kasey Tuttle 0-0-0; Justin Andes 0-0-0; Cottrell Wise 1-0-2; Eric Siefert 1-0-2. Totals: 33-13-92.
Halftime: Wheeling Jesuit, 41-39.
Field goals: Tiffin 19-57; Wheeling Jesuit 33-53.
3-point goals: Tiffin 4-17 (Roby 2-2, Graessle 2-8, Boan 0-1, Brown 0-1, Twine 0-1, Dennison 0-1, McCormick 0-1, Bendolph 0-2); Wheeling Jesuit 13-25 (Fritts 7-8, Prati 3-5, B. Siefert 2-5, Gaddy 1-3, Goff 0-1, Green 0-1, Bridgeman 0-1, E. Siefert 0-1).
Foul shots: Tiffin 24-32; Wheeling Jesuit 13-21.
Rebounds: Tiffin 30 (Bouley 6, McCormick 6); Wheeling Jesuit 38 (B.Siefer 11).
Turnovers: Tiffin 16; Wheeling Jesuit 19.
Assists: Tiffin 8 (Brown 5); Wheeling Jesuit 31 (B. Siefert 14).
Heidelberg 73, Albion 68
Heidelberg (2-0): Jordan Ickes 2-0-4; Emily Giel 4-5-13; Paige Ricketts 4-4-15; Kathleen Phillips 2-0-4; Megan Meyer 6-2-16; Erika Jordan 1-0-3; Allie Hawkins 2-0-5; Nicole Payne 0-0-0; Kyra Dorney 3-4-10; Jackie Abrecht 1-0-2; Erin Pacholski 0-0-0; Kayla Zachrich 0-0-0. Totals: 25-15-72.
Albion (0-2): Taylor Nugent 5-2-12; Tanner Johnson 4-5-13; Brett deBear 7-3-20; Taylor Peruchietti 1-0-2; Darian Payne 3-3-9; Katie Thompson 2-0-4; Danielle Fraley 1-0-2; Emily DeWaters 1-3-6; Aly Bates 0-0-0. Totals: 24-14-68.
Halftime: Albion, 37-35.
Regulation: 60-60.
Field goals: Heidelberg 25-75; Albion 24-62.
3-point goals: Heidelberg 7-28 (Ricketts 3-8, miller 2-7, Hawkins 1-1, Jordan 1-2, Dorney 0-1, Phillips 0-3, Giel 0-6); Albion 6-19 (deBear 3-4, Nugent 2-9, DeWaters 1-3; Johnson 0-3).
Foul shots: Heidelberg 15-23; Albion 14-22.
Rebounds: Heidelberg 72 (Miller 14, Ricketts 9); Albion 46 (Johnson 8, deBear 8, Thompson 7).
Turnovers: Heidelberg 18; Albion 23.
Assists: Heidelberg 14 (Giel 4, Ricketts 4); Albion 12 (Johnson 5).
Tiffin 50, Wheeling Jesuit 47
Tiffin (2-1): Stephanie Kelly 1-3-5; Karli Mast 4-2-11; Melissa Gilliland 2-3-7; Jessica Harris 3-1-7; Jillian Adams 3-0-6; Mackenzie Storlie 1-2-4; Mary Kate Campbell 0-0-0; Marisa Liburdi 1-0-2; Jordan Fraley 3-0-6; Macy Byrd 0-2-2; Jessica Farr 0-0-0; Erica Mathis 0-0-0. Totals: 18-13-50.
Wheeling Jesuit (1-1): Emily Robinson 1-0-3; Breanna Butler 6-2-14; Taneka Lewis 3-2-8; Kelsey Pacholke 0-0-0; Taylor Lubinsky 1-0-3; Jamie Sobczak 4-0-9; Lucy DeFruscio 1-0-2; Jaila Bryant 1-0-2; Rachal Smetzler 0-0-0; Alex Anderson 2-1-5; Jalan Brown 0-0-0. Totals: 19-5-47.
Halftime: Tiffin, 26-18.
Field goals: Tiffin 18-59; Wheeling Jesuit 19-52.
3-point goals: Tiffin 1-11 (Mast 1-6, Harris 0-1, Storlie 0-1, Gilliland 0-3); Wheeling Jesuit 4-18 (Sobczak 1-1, Robinson 1-2, Lubinsky 1-4, DeFruscio 1-5, Lewis 0-1, Butler 0-5).
Foul shots: Tiffin 13-18; Wheeling Jesuit 5-6.
Rebounds: Tiffin 39 (Harris 13); Wheeling Jesuit 40 (Anderson 12).
Turnovers: Tiffin 10; Wheeling Jesuit 15.
Assists: Tiffin 12 (Mast 4); Wheeling Jesuit 13 (Robinson 4).
The Cardinals went up 56-45 less than two minutes later on a pair Joe Pratti foul shots and the lead never dipped to single digits again.
Pratti finished with 26 points, while freshman Justin Fritts poured in 31.
"Part of it was our inability to stop a freshman, who was Mr. Basketball in Ohio Last year," Hill said of his team's woes.
Meanwhile, Ben Siefert registered a triple-double of 13 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists. He also snared four steals.
The Dragons (1-2) got 21 points from Joe Graessle.
Mike Boan netted nine points and Eric Roby scored eight, while Mike Bouley and Khaleal McCormick both grabbed six rebounds. Mike Brown dished five assists.
Tiffin hosts OSU-Mansfield Monday.
OT OK for HU
CINCINNATI - Megan Miller recorded a double-double, two Kyra Dorney free throws with 6 seconds left forced overtime and Paige Ricketts was named tournament MVP as Heidelberg beat Albion 72-68 in overtime Saturday as part of the Mount St. Joseph Tip-Off Classic.
The game was close throughout, with the lead under 10 the whole way.
The Student Princes (2-0) trailed 60-55 with 2:55 left in regulation after Brett deBear's 3-pointer for Albion (0-2), but Miller drained a 3 with 49 seconds left and Heidelberg rebounded a miss by deBear with 20 second left.
After a timeout with 7 seconds to go, Dorney drew a foul and drained both tries to knot the score and Albion's Taylor Nugent missed a jumper just before the buzzer.
Dorney tied the score at 62 with a layup at the 3:42 mark of OT, and her two foul shots with 3:21 left gave Heidelberg the lead for good.
Miller, a Columbian graduate, sparked Heidelberg with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Ricketts backed her with 15 points, nine boards and four assists, and Emily Giel had 13 points and four assists.
Albion got 20 points and eight boards from deBear. Tanner Johnson added 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals, Nugent netted 12 points and Darian Payne tallied nine points and three steals.
Dragons get past Cardinals
WHEELING, W.Va. - The word Pam Oswald has used to describe her team's play through the season's first three games is "seesaw."
Graduation has caused a number of changes to Tiffin University's starting lineup, and it has taken some time for the squad to gel.
The result has been periods of good play, followed by periods of struggles.
On Saturday, the Dragons did enough things right to knock off Wheeling Jesuit, 50-47.
Tiffin (2-1) got 13 rebounds and seven points from senior Jessica Harris, and led the entire second half. While the final score was close, it didn't completely reflect the contest. Wheeling Jesuit's Jamie Sobczak hit a 3 at the buzzer to make the difference three points, the closest the game had been since early in the first half.
Each team struggled on offense, but the Cardinals were worse, making 19 of 52 shots, and were just 4 of 18 from 3-point range.
"We knew Jesuit was a good 3-point shooting team," Oswald said. "We were gonna pressure them make them put the ball on the floor."
Karli Mast led the Dragons with 11 points, the only TU player to score in double digits.
Breanna Butler had 14 points for the Cardinals.
