A put-back basket by Reis Thomas with 42 seconds remaining in the contest secured a 76-70 victory for the Wabash College basketball team Wednesday night at Chadwick Court over Concordia University Chicago.
 
Thomas recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds in the victory.  His biggest basket came on that errant shot under the Wabash (1-2) basket with less than a minute to play. Thomas grabbed the rebound and scored his 13^th-point to give the Little Giants a 74-68 lead.
 
Wabash had taken a 17-point lead midway through the second half, but the visiting Cougars (0-6) beginning to cut into the Little Giants' advantage. Concordia Chicago narrowed the lead to 11 points before Thomas connected on back-to-back baskets to push the lead back to 15 points with 7:49 left to play. With Wabash still holding a 15-point edge with 6:21 on the clock, the Cougars mounted a massive comeback effort.
 
Concordia Chicago outscored the Little Giants 15-5 over a three-minute span, including a 7-0 run, to make it a five-point contest at 68-63. Connor Rotterman put Wabash back up by seven with a layup with 2:43 left to push the score to 70-63. The Cougars answered with a pair of free throws from Justin Schwarz, who finished with 17 points for the game. The Little Giants turned the ball over on their next possession. Izak Ruddell made Wabash pay for its miscue by draining a three-pointer as part of his 17-point effort, cutting the lead to two points at 70-68 with 1:50 remaining.
 
Tyler Watson made it a two-possession game on the next trip down the floor for Wabash. He scored two of his game-high 23 points on a driving layup with 1:17 on the clock to make the score 72-68. After a Concordia Chicago miss at the opposite end of the court, the Little Giants missed their shot attempt. Thomas was there to snare the miss and score the put-back basket for a 74-68 Wabash advantage.
 
Wabash closed out the contest with a pair of free throws from Kellen Schreiber with six seconds left to play. Schreiber finished with 14 points in game. The Cougars got a last-second basket ahead of the horn for the six-point final.
 
The game was back and forth in the first half with 10 lead changes overall. The Cougars' largest lead was four points. The Little Giants led by as many as nine points in the opening period thanks to a 13-point scoring run over a span of 5:22, the largest overall run in the game.
 
Wabash finished the contest shooting 29-of-62 from the field for 46.8 percent. The Little Giants' struggles from distance continued, hitting only 6-of-23 three-point attempts (26.1 percent). Wabash shot 12-of-19 from the free throw line for 63.2 percent and held a 42-35 advantage on the boards, led by Thomas' 16 rebounds.
 
Concordia Chicago shot 22-of-60 from the field (36.7 percent), including 8-of-29 from three-point range (27.6 percent). The Cougars missed only one free throw try, connecting on 18 of their 19 attempts (94.7 percent).
 
Wabash completes its two-game home stand on Saturday with a 3 p.m. contest against Wittenberg University. No spectators will be allowed to attend the game. A live video stream will be available over the Internet at https://team1sports.com/Wabash.