Wabash took a four-point lead with 45 seconds remaining in the first half of Wednesday's home basketball game against DePauw University and never trailed again in a 71-64 victory over the visiting Tigers.
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The Little Giants (15-7, 11-4 NCAC) remained tied with Wooster for second place in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings with three games remaining on the regular season schedule. The victory also secured a home game in the first round of the conference tournament on February 25, marking the 11th time in 21 years the Little Giants will play an NCAC Tournament game at home.
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Wabash and DePauw (12-10, 9-6 NCAC) traded the lead back and forth nine times with three ties before
Jack Davidson scored on a pull-up shot in the lane to give the Little Giants a 32-31 lead with 2:24 left in the first half. Davidson added a three-pointer with under a minute left in the opening period to extend the lead to four points heading into the locker room at the break.
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Kellen Schreiber added a three-point basket to open the second half of play and give Wabash a 38-31 lead. Davidson followed with another shot in the lane for a nine-point advantage for the Little Giants. DePauw trimmed the lead to four points on a basket by Nolan Ginther and a three-point shot from Aaron Shank. The Tigers eventually got as close as one point at 63-62 with 1:44 left in the game on free throws from Elijah Hales. But Davidson answered with three free throws at the other end after drawing a foul on a long-range attempt with 1:27 on the clock.
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DePauw missed two shots on its next trip down the floor, but a Wabash turnover gave the basketball back to the Tigers with under a minute to play in a 66-62 contest. Once again DePauw came up empty on back-to-back shot attempts before
Connor Rotterman cleared the ball with a defensive rebound. Schreiber scored on a pair of free throws for a six-point lead with 30 seconds remaining. Hallstrom hit a pair of charity tosses after a missed layup by DePauw to push the lead to eight points. The Tigers scored one final basket with less than 10 seconds on the clock, but Davidson hit one of two free throw attempts for the final point of the game and a 71-64 victory.
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Wabash shot an efficient 27-of-53 from the field for 50.9 percent and connected on 7-of-16 three-point tries for 43. 8 percent. The Little Giants scored 38 points in the lane and got 21 points from the bench, compared to 12 points from DePauw's reserves.
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Davidson led Wabash with 16 points.
Tyler Watson added 13 points, and Hallstrom scored 10 points.
Ahmoni Jones grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and added seven points off the bench.
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Nick Felke paced DePauw with an 18-point effort. Hales added 13 points and Ginther, the NCAC Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week, scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
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The victory was the sixth consecutive win for Wabash and the 10th consecutive home victory for the Little Giants. Wabash travels to Kenyon College on Saturday for an NCAC contest set to begin at 3 p.m.
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