The Wabash College basketball team pulled out a textbook "Wabash Always Fights" style victory on Senior Night, defeating tenth-ranked Ohio Wesleyan University 76-71 in front of a jam-packed Chadwick Court crowd Wednesday night.
 
Leading the charge in the North Coast Athletic Conference game for the Little Giants were the  three seniors: Daniel Purvlicis, Austin Burton and Marcus Kammrath.
 
"It was a great environment inside Chadwick tonight," Wabash head coach Kyle Brumett said. "These three guys [seniors] have been so dedicated to the culture change, I really feel like we have the right guys here."
 
Wabash was eager to avenge its previous 12-point loss to OWU (19-3, 12-3 NCAC) earlier in the season with a signature Little Giant victory, and the seniors provided just that. Senior Marcus Kammrath kicked off the effort for the Little Giants by scoring the team's first six points off hard-fought Wabash rebounds and stellar ball movement.
 
Purvlicis finished 9-11 from the field, including a crucial 5-6 from the free throw line, and tallied 10 rebounds to go with his 23 points.
 
"We didn't know exactly what we were when we started," Coach Brumett said, "Purvlicis is the anchor; he does such a good job of figuring out how teams are going to attack him and adjusts to it."
 
A major turning point in the first half that really kept Wabash with the powerful Ohio Wesleyan team was a scrappy swing that began with a Johnny Jager steal that led to a Duncan Roy three pointer, with the Chadwick Court crowd erupting in response.
 
Burton commented on how the crowd kept Wabash in the game
 
"It didn't feel like we were underdogs, we were all focused. A lot of guys stepped up and the crowd definitely kept us in it. It was awesome."
 
The Little Giants headed into halftime tied with OWU, 31-31. Ohio Wesleyan looked like the number-ten team in the country coming out of the break by scoring the first three points of the half, but Wabash stuck right with them.
 
Burton's timely shooting in the second half executed those needs perfectly. The senior scored seven of his ten points in the final period, including a crucial three-point basket at 15:45 in the second half to put the Little Giants back on top 41-38. From that point forward on, the teams traded punches the remainder of the game.
 
Wabash managed to stretch the lead to as many as nine points midway through the final period and led by eight with 3:38 left to play. A four-point play by Claude Gray on a three-pointer and foul shot helped draw OWU to within two points, but his three-point try with a minute left missed everything and gave the ball back to Wabash . Burton converted a layup at the other end to push the Little Giants' advantage to five ahead of a Matt Jeske triple.
 
Johnny Jager and Ben Stachowski closed the game out with free throws to lock up the victory. The student body chanted "Thank you seniors!" after the clocked struck zero, cementing the third straight loss by Ohio Wesleyan at Chadwick Court in each of the last three meetings.
 
Duncan Roy finished with 11 points for Wabash. CJ McMann added 11 of the Little Giants' 20 points off the bench, compared to just two for the Bishops. Wabash shot 51.9 percent from the field (28-of-64) while holding OWU to 23-of-69 shooting (36.4 percent).
 
Nate Axelrod led OWU in scoring with 30 points. Gray scored 14, Ben Simpson added 12, and Seth Clark finished with 10.
 
The Little Giants (12-10, 6-9) will travel to Denison University this Saturday for a 3:30 p.m contest.