Box Score The last 11 seconds of Wednesday night's 77-66 victory by Wabash over 14th-ranked Ohio Wesleyan turned into a free throw parade for the Little Giants. Four technical fouls and two ejections expanded a four-point Wabash lead in those closing seconds of Senior Night.
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A pair of
Kyle Aiton free throws gave the Little Giants a 70-66 advantage with 20 seconds remaining in the contest. Ohio Wesleyan's Nick Felhaber missed a three-point try at the other end of the basket, and OWU's Reuel Rogers was called for a foul as he and
Marcus Kammrath battled for the rebound. The two became tangled and went hard to floor, each drawing technical fouls. After both teams separated, Ohio Wesleyan head coach Mike DeWitt was assessed a pair of technical fouls and Claude Gray was ejected for leaving the bench while Rogers and Kammrath were on the floor.
Kammrath connected on two free throws, followed by 5-for-6 effort from the stripe by Aiton to effectively end the North Coast Athletic Conference affair.
Wabash led by seven with 4:44 remaining when Kammrath grabbed a loose ball for a layup, giving the Little Giants a 62-55 advantage. Seth Clark answered for the Battling Bishops before Aiton nailed a jumper with 3:54 left to push the lead back to seven.
Gray scored the next five points of the game, connecting on a jump shot and a three-pointer in the span of just over two minutes of play. Kammrath stretched the lead to 66-62 with 1:04 left in the contest.
Rogers tacked on a free throw for OWU before
Houston Hodges and Aiton hit two out of four charity shots. Clark rallied the Bishops with a final three at the 23-second mark to trim the Wabash advantage to 68-66 before Aiton's free throws with 20 seconds left set up the furious finish.
Wabash honored seniors
Pete Nicksic and
Andy Walsh prior to the start of the final regular season home game. Nicksic scored six points and grabbed six rebounds along with a steal and a blocked shot. Walsh hit one three-pointer to go with four rebounds and two assists.
Ohio Wesleyan took an early 4-0 lead before a basket by
Daniel Purvlicis and a triple from Aiton gave the Little Giants a 5-4 edge. OWU would take another four-point lead five minutes into the contest before Purvlicis and Kammrath scored on back-to-back offensive series to knot the game at 13-13.
The Little Giants eventually took a 24-23 lead on a basket by
Gary Ulrich with 7:05 left in the first half.
Austin Burton sizzled the nets from long range to push the advantage as high as nine points in the opening period. The sophomore scored 18 points on the night, hitting all six of his three-point attempts. Burton helped the Little Giant bench outscore OWU's reserves 36-6 for the game.
Wabash connected on 8-of-27 three-point tries while shooting 22-of-53 from the field (41.5 percent). The Little Giants held Ohio Wesleyan to 38 percent (26-of-67) from the field.
Aiton led both teams with 21 points, including 12-of-16 from the free throw line. Purvlicis just missed a second double-double, scoring nine points along with 11 rebounds.
Gray paced Ohio Wesleyan (17-5, 11-4 NCAC) with 18 points before fouling out of the contest. Clark added 15 points and Rogers finished with 10 and nine rebounds.
Wabash moves into a three-way tie for fifth place in the NCAC, matching the 7-9 league marks of Denison and Kenyon. Denison knocked off Kenyon 73-68 Wednesday evening and will play host to the Little Giants Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
