Sophomore guard Jack Davidson scored the 1,000th point of his career and extended his consecutive free throws made streak on Wednesday night, but those were the lone highlights for Wabash in a 94-79 loss by the Little Giants to the DePauw University Tigers.
 
Wabash (18-4, 12-3 NCAC) could not overcome a hot-shooting night by the home DePauw (15-7, 9-6 NCAC) squad. The Tigers shot 63.5 percent from the field overall and hit 11-of-17 three-point tries for 64.7 percent. The Little Giants connected on 26-of-53 attempts from the field for 49.1 percent but managed to score on only 4-of-16 attempts from three-point range.
 
Davidson scored 40 points overall in the game, giving him 1,005 total points through 47 games in his career. He became the 27th Wabash player to reach the 1,000-point mark. Davidson finished 13-of-13 from the free throw line to move his streak to 80 consecutive free throws made. He broke the NCAA Division III single-season record for free throws made last Saturday when he made his 67th consecutive free throw. The all-time Division III record is 84 held by Dirk Rhinehart from Kalamazoo College over the span of the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons. The all-time NCAA record is 94 by Paul Cluxton from Division II Northern Kentucky during the 2003 season.
 
Wabash took a 5-3 advantage on a three-pointer by Davidson three minutes into the game for the Little Giants' only lead of the game. DePauw raced out to a 19-7 advantage with a 16-2 run over the next seven minutes, led in part by an eight-point effort from sophomore Nick Felke who finished the game with a career-best 27 points to lead DePauw in scoring. Wabash got as close as six points in the opening period at 24-18 with 6:09 left to play. The Tigers came right back, answering the Little Giants' rally with one of their own to take a 19-point lead with 1:31 left in the period on a Felke free throw. A powerful dunk from Alex Eberhard sparked a 6-3 run for Wabash that trimmed the lead to 48-32 at the half.
 
DePauw blistered the nets in the opening 20 minutes by shooting 18-of-30 for 60 percent from the field. The Tigers canned 8 of their 12 three-point attempts for 66.7 percent.   
 
Wabash opened the final period by closing the gap to eight points by outscoring DePauw 14-6 over the first 5-1/2 minutes of the second half. Davidson provided eight of the 14 points during that stretch to put the Little Giants in striking distance. DePauw quickly responded by pushing the lead back up to double digits for the remainder of the contest.
 
Davidson's 1,000-point came with 6:43 left to play when he connected on a pull-up jump shot from the right side of the lane to make the score 80-62 in favor of DePauw. The Little Giants got no closer than 16 points over the next three minutes until both teams cleared their benches in the final stretch of the game, leading to the 15-point differential.
 
The loss is the second in three games for Wabash against North Coast Athletic Conference opponents and ends a four-game road swing in the conference schedule for the Little Giants with a 2-2 mark during that time. Wabash remains in second place in the NCAC standings two games back of first-place Wooster (19-3, 14-1 NCAC) and a game ahead of third-place Wittenberg (17-5, 11-4 NCAC). The Tigers claim sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings with the victory.
 
Harrison Hallstrom joined Davidson in double-figure scoring for Wabash in the game with 17 points. Cole Jenkins added a career-best 20 points for DePauw, and Aaron Shank chipped in 13 points.
 
Wabash returns to action Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Chadwick Court against Kenyon College. There will be an alumni game beginning at 11 a.m. prior to the NCAC meeting between the Little Giants and Lords. Wabash will also honor the members of the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 Little Giant basketball teams at halftime. Those two squads won Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference championships were the last Wabash teams to earn a berth in the NCAA Division III basketball tournament.