Wabash College only led for 5:33 the entire game and pulled out the win over Oberlin on Senior Day, 65-59.
CJ McMann was the lone Wabash senior and he had six points, four of which were huge free throws down the stretch.
"CJ gave us another guy who we could put out there and run the offense without turning the ball over," Wabash head coach Kyle Brumett said. "He also gave us a lift defensively down the stretch. I felt he forced some turnovers today as well. He has played well in this stretch where his minutes have gone down and I feel like his leadership has improved. He has been awesome."
Wabash got off to a cold start shooting 10-for-26 from the floor in the first half and only scored 16 points in the first 18 minutes.
"Everybody has an idea that it's going to come from Colten and Logan," Brumett said. "Hard hedging the ball screens and doubling in the post has been something we have seen a lot of down the stretch. In that last little run, we got out in transition and got a few offensive rebound baskets. It was huge, we got some confidence going in."
Wabash trailed 28-16 with 2:05 left in the first half but after a layup by sophomore Dalton Vachon, Wabash cut the lead to 28-25 at the half.
Oberlin (2-21, 1-15 NCAC) kept the lead for the entire second half until a layup by sophomore Logan White tied the game at 34-34 with 15 minutes remaining. Oberlin stretched out the lead out to 47-40 with just under nine minutes left before Wabash scored seven straight to tie the game again with 5:48 to play.
Neither team had more than a two-point lead until White hit a layup with 1:03 on the clock to give Wabash a 58-55 lead.
Sophomore Duncan Roy then hit a three with 23 seconds left in the game after blocking a shot on the defensive end of the floor to give Wabash a 61-55 lead. The Little Giants would never let it get closer than four the rest of the way.
"Duncan played great," Brumett said. "He had a huge rebound late in the game and then a big block and rebound. He did a good job of stepping up and taking advantage."
Wabash was led by White with 16 points followed by freshmen Colton Garland and Harrison Hallstrom with 11 each. Andre Campbell paced Oberlin with 20 points.
Wabash outrebounded Oberlin 36 to 32 and White led both teams with nine rebounds.
The Little Giants (11-2, 7-9 NCAC) moved into a tie for fifth place in the North Coast Athletic Conference with the win combined with a loss by Hiram. Wabash will travel to DePauw on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. start followed by a trip to Ohio to face Denison next Saturday at 3 p.m. for the regular season finale.
"It's a big week," Brumett said. "The DePauw game is always huge. Both of our teams have a lot of similarities. It'll take some guys to step up and we need some guys to step up and guard better than we did at times today."
