Box Score Wabash fell behind early before coming up short in a 75-64 in its regular season road finale at Kenyon. The sends the Little Giants into next Tuesday's North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament as the seven seed.
The Little Giants will travel to Greencastle to open tournament play against DePauw University Tuesday night. The start time will be announced Sunday. Tickets for the first round game are $7 for adults, $5 for children 18 and under, NCAC season pass holders, and students without an ID from an NCAC institution. Students with an ID from an NCAC institution are admitted free of charge. Complete information is available at the
NCAC Tournament web site.
Kenyon took a 13-point lead midway through the opening period before trimming the score to six at halftime.
Daniel Purvlicis scored to start the second half, cutting the score to 30-26.
Kyle Aiton and Purvlicis scored back-to-back baskets to bring the Little Giants to within a basket before Kenyon responded with a pair of baskets to stretch the lead back to six.
Wabash rode the hot hands of
Houston Hodges and Purvlicis in the second half. Hodges led Wabash in scoring with a season-best 12 points. Hodges tallied 10 points in the final period. Purvlicis scored eight in the game, with all of his points coming over the last 20 minutes. The Little Giants moved to within three points twice and two points on another occasion but were never able to tie or gain a lead.
Aiton,
Pete Nicksic, and
Kasey Oetting also scored eight points for Wabash. The Little Giants shot 27-of-70 from the field compared to 28-of-55 for Kenyon.
Senior Brian Lebowitz recorded season highs with 26 points and 15 rebounds. He added five blocked shots in his final career home game. Cooper Handelsman scored 12 points, while Julian Pavlin and Ikenna Nwadibia each scored 11 for the Lords. Kenyon (12-13, 9-9 NCAC) earned the fifth seed in the upcoming tournament with the victory and will play at Ohio Wesleyan Tuesday night.
Wabash finished the regular season with a 7-11 NCAC record and an 8-16 mark in regular season games overall.
