Box Score Austin Burton scored a career-high 19 points Saturday to help Wabash hold off Allegheny in a 72-56 victory in Chadwick Court.
 
Burton's previous career high occurred on January 5 when he scored 10 points at Allegheny in a 73-70 Little Giant win.

View photos from the game here.
 
"Coaches have been talking to me about attacking," Burton said. "You can't always hit your outside shots, but you should be able to hit your layups 80-90 percent of the time. And when you get to the line, good things happen."
 
Burton made 7-of-10 free-throw attempts as the Little Giants shot 20-of-27 from the charity stripe.
One day after Wabash erased an 18-point deficit to defeat Hiram, the Little Giants found themselves in a role reversal. Wabash entered half time up 32-16, and pushed its lead to 18 points on multiple occasions. However, the Gators rallied around the nine-minute mark to cut the Little Giants' cushion to six points with three minutes remaining.
 
"They hit some tough shots and we had some breakdowns defensively," Burton said. "We just had to weather the storm and get defensive stops. It was all about defensive stops when we were up by six points."
 
Wabash (7-13, 6-8 NCAC) made the stops and Burton, along with a host of other Little Giants, made free throws late to put the game away. Allegheny often flipped between man and zone defenses, and applied the full-court press for much of the second half in a comeback effort.

"They threw a lot of different looks at us, but we just had to recognize what it was," Coach Antoine Carpenter said. "Houston (Hodges) and Gary (Ulrich) really got us into what we needed to do. It's a possession ball game against Allegheny so you have to take care of the ball and get good shots."
 
The press created a fast-paced, helter-skelter style of basketball.
 
 
Allegheny (4-17, 1-13 NCAC) also played its second game in as many nights. The Gators knocked off DePauw Friday night for their first North Coast Athletic Conference win of the season.
 
"Both teams were obviously tired," Burton said. "But today showed our heart and effort and I think that's what the last couple of games have shown. You can't control your shots all the time, but you can control your effort and intensity. That shows in how many 50-50 balls we won today and forcing turnovers."
 
Kyle Aiton followed up Burton with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Daniel Purvlicis added 8 points and 6 boards while Pete Nicksic, Kasey Oetting, and Marcus Kammrath each scored 7 points.
 
Wingman Evan Zabriski led Allegheny with 14 points and guard Josh Valentic scored 12. Ryan Stanko scored his 1,000th career point in the first half. He finished the game with 5 points.

Wabash is currently tied for sixth place in the NCAC standings with four games remaining. The Little Giants hold a three-game edge over Oberlin and Hiram, who are tied for the final playoff spot. Denison is tied with Wabash. The Little Giants travel to Denison next Saturday.
 
Wabash's final regular season home contest will be Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against Ohio Wesleyan.  Seniors Andy Walsh and Nicksic will be honored prior to the game.