Once again the ball rolled in favor of Wabash.

Marcus Kammrath's put back attempt hung on the edge, then dropped through the basket with 0.8 seconds left to give the Little Giants a 68-66 win over Denison. Eight days earlier, Wabash defeated Hiram 73-72 on a buzzer-beating 68-foot shot by Austin Burton. Wednesday night a three-pointer from the right corner by Kasey Oetting just fell off the iron ahead of the buzzer in an 81-80 loss at Ohio Wesleyan.

Kammrath slid into the lane and tipped back Kyle Aiton's try for a game-winning shot with two seconds left. The putback gave Kammrath 12 points and 14 rebounds.

With the score tied at 66-66 with 36 seconds remaining, Big Red forward Bret Woolard faked a shot then attempted a reverse layup. Kammrath used his 6-9 frame to deliver a Valentine's Day rejection and corral the loose ball.

"Coach kind of instilled the fear of God in me when he told me not to bite on the fakes," Kammrath said. "I stayed down through that possession and was able to block him when he came back underneath."

On the ensuing possession, the junior center's tip got the bounce, the roll, and the kiss off the glass to give Wabash the lead. A half-court heave from Denison harmlessly missed everything as time expired.

Kammrath's 12-point, 14-rebounds effort was his second double-double since being inserted into the starting lineup four games ago. He is a combined three rebounds shy of having double-doubles in all four games.

"I told the guys in practice that I coached 'Marco' Kammrath for the first two months of the season and just found Marcus Kammrath," Coach Brumett smirked. "He is like a different player, but not any different than we thought he could be."

In the first half, "Marco" appeared as Kammrath committed two fouls. Marcus showed up in the second, hauling in 13 rebounds and scoring all 12 of his points.

"Coaches told me to quit playing like I'm walking on pins and needles," Kammrath said. "Because of my foul trouble, I'm usually nervous and timid, but Coach told me to just get out there and to play hard. That gave me a sigh of relief and more confidence."

Neither team could breathe a sigh of relief all game. Denison built a quick five-point lead at the beginning of the game before the Little Giants grabbed a seven-point cushion late in the first half. Big Red guard David Meurer closed the first 20 minutes on a personal 5-0 run to cut the Wabash lead to 35-33 at halftime.

Meurer finished with a game-high 24 points, shooting 4-of-6 from three.

The home team built an 11-point lead early in the second half, but couldn't rid itself of the clingy Denison squad. The Big Red went on a 19-9 run over a nine-minute stretch to tie the game at 66-66, setting up the climatic action in the final minute.

The Little Giants only shot 5-of-14 from the free throw line, and Brumett pointed to that stat as a reason why they couldn't put away the game.

Daniel Purvlicis led Wabash with 19 points and had six rebounds. Kasey Oetting continued his hot shooting, scoring 16 and going 4-of-5 from distance.

The Little Giants had a 40-27 rebounding advantage and scored 10 more points in the paint than Denison. Wabash also had a 21-6 advantage in second-chance points.

"Allowing Purvlicis to play as the four really forces the other team's hand," Brumett said. "Teams have put their best post defender on Purvlicis, then sometimes that means a really small guy guards Kammrath or (Daniel) Scofield. That's when they can really affect the game on the glass."

These not-so-Little Giants have been key to the success this year.

"We always have a handful of keys for each game," Kammrath said. "I think every game that we have played, a key has been to get the ball inside, that's where there's an advantage. It's also repeated three or four times. Our guards do a really good job executing it."

Wabash will try to overpower its rival next. The Little Giants return to Chadwick Court at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against DePauw.