Wabash played through a sluggish start to Saturday's North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball game versus Denison to claim an 86-63 home victory. Kellen Schreiber scored his 1,000th career point in the victory.
 
Ahmoni Jones provided the biggest impact in the game for the Little Giants (14-3, 9-1 NCAC). The junior forward recorded a double-double in the first 20 minutes of the game by scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He finished the game with 16 points and career-high 14 boards for his second double-double of the season against the Big Red (6-10, 5-5 NCAC). Jones scored 15 points with 10 rebounds in the earlier meeting between the two teams this season.
 
Wabash missed its first eight shot attempts, allowing Denison to take advantage and build up a 6-2 lead through the first three minutes of play. The Big Red took an eight-point lead at 14-6 six minutes into the opening period before the Little Giant offense awoke. Jones scored on a driving layup ahead of a three-point basket by Jack Davidson.
 
The Little Giants remained five points back of Denison at the midway point of the first half before Edreece Redmond forced a turnover and scored a fast-break layup to bring Wabash to within three points at 20-17. Denison turned the ball over once again and Davidson evened the score at 20-20 with a three-pointer. The Big Red responded with another quick score and regained a four-point lead. Schreiber answered with a basket and a free throw to cut the lead to one point.
 
Schreiber drew another foul on the offensive end a minute later and hit both free throws to give Wabash its first lead of the game at 27-26. The Little Giants would never trail again, racing out to a 13-point advantage with an 18-4 scoring run to close out the period for a 43-30 halftime advantage.
 
Wabash outscored Denison 43-33 in the second half to easily control the rest of the game. The biggest highlight came with 8:32 left to play in the game. Schreiber got the basketball in the low post left side, missed the first contested shot opportunity but grabbed the rebound and scored on the putback attempt for his 1,000th career point. He also drew a foul and hit the free throw as part of a 16-point effort in the game.   
 
Davidson paced the Wabash scoring effort with 22 points. He trails Josh Estelle's all-time Wabash scoring record of 2,065 career points by only 25 points heading into Sunday's home matchup against Wooster. Jones and Schreiber each finished with 16 points, while Tyler Watson added 14 points and four assists.
 
Freeman Brou and Will Hunter scored 10 points apiece to lead Denison.
 
Wabash shot 31-of-65 from the field (47.7 percent) for the game and went just 5-of-11 from three-point range for 45.5 percent shooting. Denison finished 26-of-69 from the field (37.7 percent) and hit only five of its 23 three-point tries (21.7 percent). The Little Giants outrebounded Denison 51-35 with 14 of their 51 boards coming on the offensive end of the floor to account for 19 second-chance points.
 
Wabash returns to Chadwick Court in less than 24 hours with a Sunday afternoon game against the College of Wooster. The 2 p.m. contest was originally scheduled for January 4 but was postponed. Only Wabash students, faculty, staff, and invited guests of participants may attend the game in person.