Wabash opened Saturday's game at Kenyon without the services of the leading scorer in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The Little Giants got a combined 51 points from a pair of freshmen to take a 92-69 victory over the host Lords to remain unbeaten in NCAC play.
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Jack Davidson, the conference leader with a 22.7 points-per-game average, missed Saturday's game for Wabash (14-1, 8-0 NCAC) due to an illness. Freshmen
Kellen Schreiber and
Tyler Watson stepped up for the Little Giants. Schreiber scored a career-high 26 points with an 8-of-13 shooting performance from the field. Watson also netted a career-best effort with 25 points against Kenyon (1-14, 0-8 NCAC), connecting on 9-of-13 shot attempts.
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Schreiber, earning his second start of the season, set career-best marks in nearly every offensive category. The freshman was perfect from the free throw with a 6-for-6 performance. He finished 4-of-7 from three-point range and played 31 minutes overall.
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Wabash shot well once again as a team, hitting 32-of-57 attempts for 56.1 percent for the game. The Little Giants shot 17-of-31 in the opening half for 54 percent. Watson provided the early lead for Wabash with a jump shot for a 2-0 advantage the Little Giants would never relinquish. The Little Giants claimed a 14-point lead in the near the end of the first period on a three-point basket by Schreiber that sent Wabash to the locker room with a 44-30 advantage.
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Kenyon opened the second period with an 8-0 run to trim the lead to six points but Schreiber connected on a three-point play with a jump shot in the lane and a free throw. Wabash extended its lead to double digits once again before eventually owning a 28-point advantage at 84-56 after a three-point basket by
Connor Rotterman, who scored 13 points for the Little Giants, before finishing the game with the 23-point victory.
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Wabash limited the Lords to 25-of-60 shooting from the field (41.7 percent, including a 6-of-23 effort from three-point range for 26.1 percent shooting. The Little Giants snared 39 rebounds, including 12 offensive rebounds, compared to 22 for Kenyon.
Harrison Hallstrom grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to go with eight points.
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Ugnius Zilinskas paced Kenyon with 17 points. Konrad Christian added 14 points.
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The Little Giants remain in first place in the NCAC standings. Wabash holds a one-game lead over Wooster (12-3, 7-1 NCAC) after the Scots won 73-65 at Wittenberg Saturday evening. Wabash will face arch-rival DePauw University Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at Chadwick Court. Admission is free charge.
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