A 12-point run by Ohio Wesleyan in the closing minutes of the open period did the Wabash College basketball team in on Wednesday night. The Little Giants led in the early going, but fell 66-47 to the Battling Bishops in North Coast Athletic Conference play.
The Little Giants held the NCAC’s second leading scorer, Travis Schwab, to only nine points. Coming into the game with a 20.5 points-per-game average, the senior center would only score four points in the first half, but would dominate the boards with 13 rebounds to lead both teams at the end of the game. The damage came from Andy Warnock, Bryan King, and Ben Chojnacki. Warnock led both teams with 17 points, while King and Chojnacki each tossed in 11.
The first half was a classic defensive battle, each team holding the other to only five points through the opening seven minutes of play. But as the Little Giants have seen too many times this season, an offensive spurt by the opponent created a deficit that proved too much for Wabash to overcome.
After the Little Giants took an 8-7 lead on an Alex Rinks (Indianapolis, IN/Beech Grove) free throw, the Bishops rattled off a 17-5 run over the next nine minutes to take an 11-point lead. Wabash trimmed it to eight points on a drive and free throw by freshman Mark Bower (Bloomington, IN/Bloomington South), but OWU answered with an easy layup by Schwab to make it 28-19 at the break.
Wabash would get no closer in the second half, trailing by as many as 21 points in the closing minutes before settling for the 19-point victory.
Sophomore center Kyle Coffey (Greenwood, IN/Center Grove) paced Wabash with 14 points. Freshman Rich McCracken (Orleans, IN/Orleans) came off the bench to score a career-best eight points.
Wabash falls to 8-14 with the loss, 6-7 in the NCAC. The Little Giants will try to rebound on Saturday with a 3 p.m. contest against Denison University. The action begins at 1 p.m. with the annual alumni game.