Wabash outshot, outhustled, and outscored Wittenberg on the road Wednesday in a decisive 69-54 North Coast Athletic Conference win for the Little Giants.
 
The victory is only the third in 23 trips to Springfield to face the Tigers (12-6, 7-4 NCAC). Wabash won 52-50 at Wittenberg last year after posting a 72-69 road victory in 2010.
 
The Little Giants took control five minutes into the game, starting with a 17-2 run with the game tied at 8-8. Wabash held an advantage for 38:14 of the 40-minute contest, stretching the lead to 14 points at halftime thanks to the inside scoring of Daniel Purvlicis. The senior tallied 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half on the way to a game-high 22 points. Senior Austin Burton added 13 points in the win, while Ben Stachowski returned to action after missing the last two games with an injured wrist to score 12 points off the bench.
 
Wednesday night's victory was a complete team effort from the Little Giants from start to finish. Wabash shot 25-of-48 from the field (52.1 percent), including an 8-for-15 effort from three-point range (53.3 percent). The Little Giants held Wittenberg to 16-of-50 shooting (32 percent) and only four made three-point shots out of 25 attempts (16 percent).
 
"This is a game where even the guys whose numbers don't jump out at you on the box score made huge contributions," Wabash head coach Kyle Brumett said. "Ronald Ryan hit a big shot in the corner when Wittenberg had made a little run. He just came off the bench and played steady to give Johnny Jager a little bit of a break. Actually he came in a played when Johnny wasn't playing great. Stachowski made a big difference for us offensively. He just gives us a threat we can't replace when he's not out there. Logan White and Marcus Kammrath were much more physical tonight then they were when we played Wittenberg the first time. That makes life so much easier for Purvlicis and Evan Frank.
 
"Road wins in this league are so hard to come by. This (Wabash) team has been feeling that. To get a team effort like we did tonight on the road against a really good team helps you move forward.
 
Ryan's three-pointer in the corner boosted the Wabash lead to 21 points with just over 14 minutes to play. The Tigers fought back, eventually cutting the lead to 11 points on a pair of free throws by Jaelin Williams with 4:48 remaining to cap a 6-0 run. Wabash fought through the press, finding Stachowski on the right wing for his second three-pointer of the night and effectively put the game away for the Little Giants.
 
"We talked a lot after Saturday's loss to Oberlin about not letting whether you;re making or missing shots have any impact on your effort and your concentration on executing the plan," Brumett said. "We had an early turnover and a couple of missed shots. Our guys just continued to battle. One of the last things (Assistant) Coach (Patrick) Sullivan told them is we have to live that 'Wabash Always Fights' mentality. It's a fight on every possession. I thought our guys really bought into that tonight."
 
Williams scored 18 points to pace the Tigers' offense. Garrett Dorfman came off the bench to add 10 points.
 
Wabash (10-8, 4-7 NCAC) moves into a tie for seventh place with Kenyon College in the NCAC standings. The Little Giants travel to Wooster, Ohio Saturday for a 2 p.m. tipoff against the Scots. Wooster knocked off seventh-ranked Ohio Wesleyan 91-90 to move into a tie with the Battling Bishops for first place in the league standings.