Second Half
Wabash doubled the Allegheny College scoring output in the second half to take an 81-58 victory at home in an important North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball matchup.
 
The Little Giants' win came less than 24 hours after an 82-74 loss to Hiram at Chadwick Court.
 
Wabash shot better than 50 percent from the field, connecting on 31-of-57 attempts. Senior Daniel Purvlicis scored a game-high 26 points, shooting 13-of-15 from the field. Junior CJ McMann added a nearly-perfect 4-5 effort including a 3-for-3 performance from three-point range to score a career-best 13 points.
 
The Little Giants also limited turnovers after giving the ball away 17 times in Friday's loss. Wabash made eight turnovers while forcing the Gators (3-18, 3-11 NCAC) into 11 turnovers. The Little Giants turned the Allegheny miscues into 18 points.
 
Wabash opened the second half trailing 35-33 before going on a 22-8 scoring run to take the lead for good. The Little Giants shot 56.7 percent from the field (17-of-30) while holding Allegheny to 7-of-21 shooting (33.3 percent). Wabash only committed two turnovers over the final 20 minutes.
 
"This was a really good turnaround," Wabash head coach Kyle Brumett said. "Playing back-to-back games is tough, especially when it doesn't go your way the night before. Coach Patrick Sullivan did a great job getting the preparation ready. Our guys did a really good job of taking the coaching from yesterday, which was largely criticism. I thought we responded really well. Purvlicis gave us a great weekend. Johnny Jager made some big shots. He probably didn't feel great about his percentage, but he made some big ones that really allowed us to stretch the lead. We also got great contributions from guys coming off the bench, like CJ McMann and Logan White, I thought Ben Stachowski was really good too."
 
Stachowski's 13 points came in his first starting role for Wabash after coming off the bench in his first 11 games. The freshman has scored in double figures in four of his last six games.
 
"You always have to have more options," Brumett said. "Our league is too good. The players and the teams have so much depth. Other guys have to step up and put the ball in the basket when teams are putting so much emphasis on John and Dan. Today we did a good job of that. Last night, not so much. That's kind of how we've been this year."
 
Conor MacOmber and Evan Zabriski each tallied 15 points to lead the Gators in scoring. Brandon Smith chipped in 13 points.
 
The victory moved Wabash (11-10, 5-9) into a tie with Kenyon for seventh place in the NCAC standings. The Little Giants own a two-game lead over Allegheny and DePauw in the league standings with four games left to play.
 
Wabash plays it final regular season home game Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. against conference co-leader Ohio Wesleyan. The annual Senior Night Celebration will take place a few minutes prior to the opening tip.