Box Score Wabash controlled the 18^th-ranked Wittenberg's inside game but struggled late against the Tigers' outside shooting in a 70-50 road loss for the Little Giants Wednesday evening.

Wittenberg's Stephen Newell connected on 5-of-7 three-point tries to lead the team with 15 points. The victory, coupled with a Wooster loss, allowed the Tigers to move into a four-way tie for first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Pete Nicksic, Daniel Purvlicis, Daniel Scofield, and Marcus Kammrath held Scott Masin to nine points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. Masin entered the contest as Wittenberg's leading scorer with a 16.4 points-per-game average.

"We really wanted to make it tough on Masin inside," Wabash head coach Antoine Carpenter said. "He's the key to their offense. Our goal was to protect the inside and fly out to shooters. We were successful for about 75 percent of the game."

The Little Giants held Wittenberg to 30 first-half points and trailed by six at the break. Wabash grabbed a five-point lead with 8:04 left in the first period thanks in part to the offensive output of Kasey Oetting. The junior scored five consecutive points to break a 12-12 tie before Wittenberg answered with a 12-0 run keyed by three-pointers from Newell, Justin McDowell, and Cody Phillippi.

Despite the Tigers' run, Wabash kept the home team to 5-of-15 from three-point range and 11-of-31 from the field overall in the opening period. The Little Giants stayed within striking distance in the second half. Wittenberg took a 10-point lead before another triple from Oetting and jumper by Ross Sponsler --- playing for the first time since suffering a concussion against Kenyon --- trimmed the advantage to 38-33 with 14:58 left to play.

Wabash stayed within five at the midpoint of the second half before Newell and a layup by Cole Bond stretched the advantage to 10 points. Kyle Aiton answered with back-to-back baskets for a 51-45 contest with 6:50 left before the Tigers' outside shooting provided the final blow.

Ben Bowen and McDowell hit back-to-back treys, followed by a layup by Masin to push the lead to 15 points with 3:57 left to play. Wabash would get no closer than 13 points on a pair of Purvlicis free throws before losing by the eventual 20-point margin.

After keeping Wittenberg (15-3, 9-2 NCAC) to 35 percent shooting from the field in the first half, the Tigers connected on 14-of-26 tries for 53.8 percent over the final 20 minutes.

Purvlicis led Wabash in scoring with 12 points, while Oetting finished with 11. Purvlicis and Nicksic shared team honors with each grabbing five rebounds.

Sam Collins scored 11 points for Wittenberg to go with a 15-point effort by Newell.

Wabash (5-12, 4-7 NCAC) returns to Ohio Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest at the College of Wooster (15-3, 9-2 NCAC). The fifth-ranked Scots lost 62-60 at home Wednesday night to Ohio Wesleyan.