Wabash erased a nine-point first-half deficit to earn a 68-63 home victory over Wittenberg Saturday afternoon to remain in a tie for first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings.
 
Wabash (12-8, 8-3 NCAC) outscored the visiting Tigers (13-7, 7-4 NCAC) 44-30 over the final 20 minutes of the contest. The Little Giants shot 51.5 percent from the field in the second half, making 13 of 33 shots overall.
 
The Little Giants held a 64-63 lead with 50 seconds remaining in the contest after a driving fast-break layup by Wittenberg's Trey Killens off a Wabash turnover. The Little Giants missed their next shot attempt, but Vinny Buccilla grabbed the offensive rebounds to set up another scoring attempt. Wabash missed another shot, but this time, seven-foot, two-inch Noah Hupmann snagged the offensive board.
 
Wabash took advantage of the third offensive opportunity for the possession, with Ahmoni Jones connecting on two free throws to stretch the lead to three points with 17 seconds left on the clock. Killens, who scored a game-high 25 points and connected on three of eight three-point shots for the game, missed his final attempt to try and tie the game with three seconds remaining. Jones grabbed the rebound and drew a final foul. The senior hit both free throws to finish a 7-of-7 effort from the free throw line Wabash for the game and locked up the 68-63 win. Jones led Wabash with 16 points. Buccilla scored 13 points, and Sam Comer scored 11 points.
 
The Little Giants took advantage of a 36-29 edge in total rebounds by grabbing 13 offensive boards to score 18 second-chance baskets. Comer led Wabash with eight rebounds, including three offensive boards. Hupmann recorded seven rebounds to go with five blocked shots and five points.
 
Wabash outscored the Tigers 12-4 in the first four minutes of the second half to trim the Wittenberg lead to one point. The Tigers regained a three-point lead at 41-38 with 14:46 left in the game until Comer drained a three-pointer to tie the score at 41-41. Comer added a putback basket less than a minute later to give the Little Giants their first lead of the second half. The teams traded baskets over the twelve minutes in a game that featured 13 lead changes and seven ties. Wabash took its final lead when Buccilla scored with 1:20 left for a 64-61 lead.
 
Both teams struggled to score early in the game but finished shooting over 50 from the field. Wittenberg matched Wabash's 50-percent effortin the second half with a 12-for-24 effort from the field in the final 20 minutes. The Tigers hit 27 of 54 shots from the field for the game and made four of 13 three-point shots for 30.8 percent.
 
The Little Giants remain tied atop the NCAC standings with Denison and Wooster as all three teams captured victories Saturday afternoon. Wabash returns to action on Wednesday evening with a road trip to Kenyon College.
 
Game Notes
» Wabash rallied from a nine-point 33-24 halftime deficit to pick up the win.
» The Wabash bench made an impact by scoring 21 points to its scoring output.
» Wabash had a 36-29 edge on the boards in the win.
» The Little Giants were active in affecting shots on the defensive end, recording five blocks as a team.
» Wabash cleaned up on the offensive glass, collecting 13 offensive boards in the game.
» Ahmoni Jones led the Little Giants with 16 points.
» Wabash got a team-high eight rebounds from Sam Comer.