Wabash basketball celebrated Senior Day with a 68-67 win over Kenyon with a 68-67 overtime win in a foul-plagued regular season finale.

The visiting Lords had a chance to spoil the day for Wabash. Kenyon missed a late free throw to try and force a second overtime, but eneded up with an opportunity to win. After being fouled on a three-point attempt, guard Jonathan Amador toed the free throw line with four seconds remaining and Kenyon down 68-65. Amador sunk the first two, but short-armed the last attempt. However,Kenyon forward Connor Garrity corralled the loose ball and put up a floater from the short corner as time expired. The shot rattled off the iron as the Little Giants squeaked out another victory.

"It wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but it shows how willing our guys are to stick together and fight," senior guard Houston Hodges said.

The Little Giants (17-8, 12-6 NCAC) entered the game as the three-seed in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament while the Lords (7-18, 5-13 NCAC) were already eliminated from the postseason. The NCAC will formally announce Wabash's opening-round opponent Sunday after the final regular season game between Hiram and Wittenberg.

Although Saturday's game meant nothing in the standings, Wabash had plenty of reasons to play hard. Seniors Hodges, Kasey Oetting, Jordan Wagner, and Travis Wilson were recognized before the game and all four of them started. Prior to Saturday's main contest, 13 former Wabash players returned to participate in the Little Giants Alumni game.

"This is such a special place to our alums and that was a part of the draw in me coming here," Coach Kyle Brumett said. "This year has really felt like home and one of the reasons it has is because of so many alums I've gotten to know. Winning on Senior Day and Alumni Day is always going to be important to us, and sometimes it's not going to be pretty."

The ugliest part of the game was the 48 combined fouls called with four players fouling out of the game. The Little Giants also failed to have an advantage in rebounding or points in the paint, statistical categories that they normally control. Kenyon matched Wabash's 42 rebounds and 22 points in the paint.

"We missed some shots that our interior guys normally make, and I think you have to give the Lords credit for that," Brumett said. "They continued to play physical – they didn't mind being physical to the point of fouling. I give them a lot of credit for coming on the road in a difficult situation they're in for competing as well and as physically as they did."

Wabash go-to big man Daniel Purvlicis still scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds against the tough Kenyon defense. However, Kyle Aiton stepped up and scored a game-high 19 on 5-of-10 shooting.

"I didn't get in the flow against DePauw because I was in foul trouble and the other guys stepped up," Aiton said. "If someone isn't having a good night, everyone else will pick him up and that's what this team is about."

The Little Giants also received support from freshman Zack Patton who scored eight points including a couple of key late baskets. Daniel Scofield and Austin Burton scored seven and six, respectively.

The Lords held an early 9-3 advantage after Amador connected on three straight three-point attempts to open the game. The teams then slugged it out in the first half as Wabash entered the locker room up 30-28.

The Little Giants started the second half on a 16-8 run to push their lead to double figures at 46-36, but the Lords worked their way back into the game.

Kenyon took its first lead of the second half with 2:13 to go at 57-56 off of a Cooper Handlesman jumper. One minute later, Wabash regained the lead when Patton finished off a reverse layup. The Lords answered to take another one-point lead before Purvlicis connected on 1-of-2 free-throw attempts with 44 seconds remaining to tie the game at 59-59, which remained the score through regulation.

The home team started the overtime period on a 5-0 spurt before the visitors fought back to within one in the final minute.

"In the second half, we hit a point to where we were up 10 halfway through," Oetting said. "We reminded each other of that because we knew we could beat them if we did what we're supposed to do."

Tim Connolly led Kenyon with 15 points while Amador scored 13. Handlesman had 11 points and seven assists.

The Little Giants last NCAC Tournament victory came against Kenyon in 2011. Wabash will try to buck that trend at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night in Chadwick Court.

"Trying to get a playoff win is obviously big," Hodges said. "It's not necessarily for our seniors leaving a legacy, but for the program in general. We got it back on track this season."

Tickets for Tuesday's NCAC quarterfinal round will be sold at the door. Prices are $7 for adults, $5 for adults holding an NCAC Guest Pass,and $5 for children and students without an NCAC institution ID. Students from an NCAC instituion with their college ID will be admitted free of charge.