*Story by Austin Wampler
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's basketball team dropped its first road game of the season to Wittenberg University in Springfield 64-57 on Tuesday night.
The Quakers got off to a hot start where they went up 13-8 against the Tigers after a three-point shot by Anthony Freeman put them up by five with 13:15 to play in the first half. Wilmington would only score 11 points in the remaining 13:15 of play after the Freeman three pointer, however, as the Quakers got outscored 23-11 in that time to be down 31-24 at half-time due to some porous shooting from the field where the visitors shot 11-of-38 from the field and 1-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc.
In the second half of play the Quakers carved into the Tiger lead and came within two at the 14:39 after a Jeffery Mansfield three pointer, but then went on nearly a five-minute drought to where the Tigers capitalized by going on a 13-0 run and they never looked back on their way to 64-57 victory over the Quakers.
The Quakers ended the game forcing 23 Wittenberg turnovers while only suffering eight turnovers themselves, but Wilmington shot a dreadful 22-of-76 (28.9%) from the field and 3-of-23 (13.0%) from three putting them in a hole they could not get out of.
Obed Achirem led the way for the Quakers with 15 points and a game high 15 rebounds while Bilal Sow added 14 points, and Mansfield had a double-double providing 13 points and 10 rebounds, Albeit a cold shooting night for the Wilmington alumnus, shooting 3-of-15 from the field.
Landen Martin outpaced all scorers in the game with 22 points and 5 rebounds on a sharp 8-of-11 shooting from the field while Josh Tolliver added 11 for the Tigers. James Johnson had 8 points and a team high 10 rebounds.
With the loss Wilmington moves to 2-3 on the year and will return to Hermann Court after a three-game traveling stint to face Baldwin Wallace University in an Ohio Athletic Conference opener this Saturday at 4 p.m.
