GRANVILLE, OH -- Ahmoni Jones surpassed 1,000 career points with a 23-point effort Wednesday night. Vinny Buccilla had 16 more, but the Little Giants fell to the Denison Big Red 68-61 on the road in North Coast Athletic Conference competition.

Wabash (17-5, 10-3 NCAC) got off to a slow start and trailed by as many as 11 points midway through the first half. The Little Giants cut the Denison (12-9, 8-5 NCAC) lead to seven points at halftime in a 37-31 contest, then began to trim into the Big Red's advantage in the second half. 

With Denison in front 43-34 in the first 2-1/2 minutes of the second half, the Little Giants mounted an 11-0 rally to take a 45-43 lead. Buccilla started the streak with a driving layup and tied the score at 43-43 four minutes later with another layup. Gavin Schippert gave Wabash its second lead of the game with a layup at the 13:04 mark, but Denison evened the score a minute later at 45-45. 

The Little Giants regained their slim margin and held a 47-45 advantage midway through the final period before Denison regained the lead at 49-47 on a three-point basket by Tyler Miller. 

Wabash tied the game twice in the final eight minutes, with the last tie coming at 52-52 with 6:36 on the game clock. Denison used a 9-2 scoring run over the next four minutes to jump back in front by seven points. Wabash got as close as four points in the closing minutes but could draw no closer in the eventual seven-point defeat.

Wabash struggled at the free throw line, connecting on 7-of-13 attempts at the stripe for 53.8 percent.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak and dropped Wabash to second place in the conference standings, a full game behind first-place Wooster.

Jones led the Little Giants with 23 points and seven rebounds. Buccilla tacked on 16 points, and Sam Comer helped with nine points.

Jones pulled down three offensive rebounds to pace the Wabash offense, which grabbed 11 boards and turned them into 14 second-chance points.

The Wabash defense held Denison shooters to just 38.7 percent from the field, including 21.4 percent from three-point range

How It Happened

Wabash struggled out of the gate, falling behind 37-30 heading into halftime.

Denison kept widening its lead after intermission, constructing a 43-34 advantage before Wabash went on an 11-0 run, finished off by Gavin Schippert's layup, to seize a 45-43 lead with 13:04 to go in the contest. Denison outscored the Little Giants 25-16 the rest of the way to hand Wabash the 68-61 loss. 

Game Notes

» Wabash shot 25-of-58 from the field (43.1 percent) but hit only 4-of-23 three-point tries (17.4 percent). 

»The Little Giants held the Big Red to only 38.7 percent shooting from the field on 24-of-62 shooting for the game. The Big Red hit 6-of-28 three-point attempts (21.4 percent) and shot 14-of-20 from the free-throw line.

» Ahmoni Jones, Vinny Buccilla, and Sam Comer combined to account for 79 percent of the Little Giants points.

» Wabash cleaned up on the offensive glass, collecting 11 offensive boards.

» Ahmoni Jones led the Little Giants with a game-high 23 points. He scored his 1,000th career point on a layup with 14:57 remaining in the ballgame to cut the Wabash deficit to two points at 45-43.

» Wabash got seven rebounds from both Ahmoni Jones and Champ McCorkle. The Little Giants trailed Denison in the rebounding battle 41-37.

»Wabash recorded 24 of its 31 points in the lane.

This article was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.