MARIETTA, Ohio - La Roche finally put together a complete performance — and it is why the Redhawks pulled off an impressive 89-83 upset victory over No. 22 Wittenberg Saturday in the Great Lakes Invitational at Marietta College's Ban Johnson Arena.

"If you give effort and you are intense it makes the game simpler for you," said La Roche coach Hermie Carmichael. "That's all we did different. Our effort. We played stronger. We played tougher."

Wittenberg coach Matt Croci agreed with Carmichael's assessment.

"I thought they played a lot harder," Croci said. "(La Roche has) a young team and they were ready to play. They didn't want to go home 0-2."

Instead, the Tigers are headed back to Springfield, Ohio, with two losses and a tough road contest on Tuesday at Hanover.

Offering more proof that La Roche (1-4) played its most balanced game was the fact all eight players who saw action scored. Leading the way was sophomore Joe Pipilo and freshman Michael Brooks with 19 points each. Brooks also had five rebounds.

"It was a 1-18 effort," said Pipilo, who made the all-tournament team.

Freshman Kadyn Hannah contributed 16 points, but was also strong on the boards with nine rebounds — six on the offensive end. The Redhawks capitalized on offensive rebounds and turned them into 16 points. Wittenberg didn't score any points on second chance opportunities.

"We recognized when we needed big stops. We had a couple gigantic offensive rebounds. Those are things that we weren't doing in the first few games consistently for 40 minutes," Carmichael said.

Wittenberg trailed 75-72 with 2:05 to play when James Johnson made two free throws, but the Tigers would never get any closer. La Roche outscored Wittenberg 14-11 — 11 of those points coming from the foul line.

La Roche was impressive in the first half as the Redhawks led 45-32 behind a well-balanced attack. Eight La Roche players scored in the half and it was paced by Pipilo's 10 points. La Roche also made an impressive 54.8 percent of its shots, including 8-of-15 from behind the arc.

Wittenberg was cold offensively, making just 37 percent of its field goals.

"In the first half we took a lot of really bad shots. Not high percentage shots," Croci said. "They got into a good rhythm. That's it right there."

The Tigers showed up in the second half, though, and scored 51 points on close to 70-percent shooting from the field. Senior Ridge Young poured in 20 of his game-high 22 points in the second half. Senior Landon Martin added 20 points, while senior James Johnson added 17. Martin was an all-tournament selection.

Wittenberg methodically chipped away at the Redhawks lead and pulled within two points twice in the second half. However, La Roche always had an answer and never trailed.

"There's a lot of energy that is expended to come back, and we didn't sub. They made plays. They absolutely whacked us on the offensive glass. We refused to box out," Croci said. "We're not a very good team right now. We don't do the little things."

LaRoche bent but never broke in the second half.

"We told them at halftime they were going to punch back," Carmichael said.

Croci hopes the disappointment of going winless in Marietta is a wake-up call for his team.

"They had more energy and put in more effort," he said. "That is unacceptable for how experienced we are. Maybe it will help us down the road. If we respond we can use it. At some point the guys are going to have to decide to be ready."

Carmichael was obviously pleased to get the win, but he also was excited his team got a chance to play against and see the talent in the Great Lakes Invitational.

"I love to watch these guys walk into places like this. It helps every aspect of our program," he said. "The experience of being here playing. Being able to tell recruits that we schedule things like this. We're getting one team from our conference in the tournament, so why not go out and do this?"

La Roche is back in action next Saturday when it travels to Franciscan for a 2 p.m. game.