Wabash and Denison traded punches in the first five minutes of Friday's North Coast Athletic Conference semi-final game, but the Little Giants sandwiched a 10-0 scoring run around the media timeout and never looked back en route to a 98-74 win in front of a frenzied crowd at Chadwick Court.
 
The Little Giants' 19th straight win puts them in Saturday's championship game against the College of Wooster, which cruised to a 75-59 victory over DePauw in the evening's other semi-final game.
 
Senior Jack Davidson had another monster game – hitting six-of-seven three-pointers – and finished with a game-high 32 points. But it was a pair of sophomores who stepped up time and time again in Friday's win.
 
Point guard Edreece Redmond nailed two three-pointers and drove to the basket with quick ball-handling to score 15 points, while Sam Comer came off the bench to score 10 points with three rebounds and three assists.
 
"Both of those guys have played well individually and tonight they played well together," said head coach Kyle Brumett. "They are both so coachable; they see things the way Coach Sullivan and I see them."
 
The Little Giants used the 10-point scoring run in the first half to put some distance between themselves and the Big Red, but Denison kept swinging and got as close as seven points (42-35) late in the first half. Wabash scored the final four points of the half and Denison never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
 
The game also marked the return of junior forward Ahmoni Jones, who has been sidelined by an injury for most of the last six games. He started and put up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes.
 
Coach Brumett said he didn't want to play Jones as many minutes as he did, but Denison kept switching up defenses, including a box and one. "Ahmoni's inside-outside game just gives us another guy out there who can really shoot it," Brummet said.
 
Senior Tyler Watson overcame early foul trouble to post yet another terrific all-around game with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Fellow senior captain Kellen Schreiber was limited to 23 minutes because of foul trouble, but still scored nine points with four assists.
 
Will Hunter led the Big Red with 15 points, while big man Freeman Brou scored 14 points with five rebounds.
 
The Little Giants are now 23-3 on the season and the 19-game, in-season winning streak matches that of the 1982 national champions. Saturday's game will mark the first time Wabash has played for a conference title at home since the 1997-98 season, when the Little Giants toppled Franklin to take the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference crown and the NCAA tournament berth.
 
"This is what we've been building toward," Coach Brummet said, while also remembering that Wabash was well-positioned in 2020 before Denison knocked the Little Giants out in the first round of the NCAC tourney.
 
Wabash will face a Wooster team (19-8 overall) that is no stranger to the conference championship. The Scots have made the tournament finals 23 of the last 25 years. But Wabash beat the Scots twice in the regular season – for the first time ever – and will now look to take all three games in the rivalry.
 
"Wooster played really well tonight and it's a quick turn-around," Coach Brumett said. "Our guys will be really excited to play. They know how big of a game this is.
 
"This is the kind of game you want to be playing in late-February," he added. "It means a lot to be playing them. It will be an NCAA tourney-like game."
 
Indeed, the winner will receive the NCAC's automatic bid to the post-season. The loser will have to play the waiting game and hope for an at-large bid.
 
Tipoff is at 4:00 p.m. in Chadwick Court. Tickets are $10, though Wabash students enter free with a student ID. The game will be televised on www.wabash.edu/live and on the Wabash College Video Network at https://team1sports.com/Wabash. The Wabash College Video Network app is also available on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire tvs as well as through the Apple Store and Google Play.


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