Box Score Senior
Evan Johnson scored a career-high 14 points, including a three-pointer to pull Wabash to within five points with 5:43 left to play. Ohio Wesleyan put together a final run to earn a 79-64 home win over the Little Giants Wednesday night.
Johnson finished the game shooting 4-of-5 from the field with three triples and three free throws.
Wabash took an early four-point lead thanks to its aggressive 2-3 zone defense. The Battling Bishops missed their five shots befor before Taylor Rieger drilled the first of his four three-point shots in the first half. That started an 18-2 run over a span of six minutes to put OWU in front 21-10. Johnson sparked an 11-0 run with his first three-pointer of the game.
Marcus Kammrath followed with a tip-in and a free throw and another trey from
Kasey Oetting.
Daniel Purvlicis added a layup with 7:31 remaining in the opening period to make it a 22-21 contest.
The Battling Bishops answered with another run, this time a 16-5 edge to close out the period and take a 40-28 halftime advantage.
Ohio Wesleyan (18-5, 11-4) threatened to blow the game open at the start of the second period, stretching the lead to 19 over the first three minutes of the half. The Little Giants stayed close, working the lead down to 11 points when
Andy Walsh nailed a 30-foot three-point bank shot to beat the shot clock with 7:24 left to play in the game for a 61-53 OWU edge. Johnson scored another three to make it 61-56 at the 5:43 mark, but OWU outscored Wabash 18-8 over the final few minutes to pull out the win.
Walsh also scored 14 points in the losing effort for Wabash, while
Pete Nicksic finished with 13 points and Purvlicis tossed in 11. Rieger scored 21 for OWU. Marshall Morris scored 13 points, while Ruell Rogers had 12. Andy Winters added 12 points and eight assists.
Wabash (8-16, 6-9 NCAC) takes over sole possesion of seventh place in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings heading into its final regular season conference game Saturday at home against Oberlin. The Little Giants will honor the senior members of the 2012-2013 basketball team prior to the 1 p.m. tipoff. The Yeomen (7-17, 5-10) picked up a 59-50 win over Hiram Wednesday night to move into a tie for the final spot in the upcoming conference tournament and will be playing for a possible tournament berth when they travel to Crawfordsville Saturday.
