Wabash clamped a solid hold on fourth place in the final North Coast Athletic Conference standings on Saturday, but not without some uncertain moments. The Little Giants came away from Kenyon College with a hard-fought 59-58 victory over the Lords in the final regular season contest.
A three-point shot by Kenyon’s Arlen Galloway bounced harmlessly away as the final buzzer sounded, giving Wabash its 11th win of the season and a home game against Allegheny College in the first round of the NCAC Men’s Basketball Tournament on Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m.
The Little Giants also survived a tough day at the free throw line. Wabash struggled from the stripe, hitting only four of their 12 charity tosses. Kenyon had no such trouble from the line, going 12-of-13 for the contest to keep the game close.
The difference in the contest came at the defensive end for the Little Giants. Wabash held Matt Formato, the third-leading scorer in the league with a 19.5 point-per-game average, to only 11 points. Wabash sophomore Adonis Joseph (Mishawaka, IN/Mishawaka) stayed with the sophomore sharpshooter from Kenyon all afternoon, holding him to only 4-of-8 shooting from the field, including 1-of-2 from the three-point arc.
Joseph also did damage at the offensive end of the floor, leading the Little Giants with 14 points. He canned five shots from the field, four from the three-point arc to open up the offensive attack.
The game itself was a back-and-forth battle throughout. The game saw 14 lead changes and 12 ties. The Little Giants trailed by three points early in the contest before going on a 9-0 run to move in front 13-7. But back-to-back treys by Tyler Rehm and Formato tied the contest at 13-13. Wabash took another six-point lead on consecutive three’s by Joseph, only to see the Lords draw even again with 1:28 left in the opening period.
After taking a 36-35 lead into the locker room at the break, the Little Giants went up by three in the opening minutes of the second period on a Zeljko Gavranovic (SR/Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina/St. Mary’s, AZ) jumper. But Wabash would be unable to pull away. A three-pointer by Galloway brought the Lords even once again.
The final push by Wabash came with 3:34 left in the contest. Sophomore Caleb Lyttle (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) drove the lane, only to have the basketball knocked away as he brought it up to shoot. He quickly recovered the ball and hit an open layup to break a 54-54 tie. But free throws by the Lords a minute later knotted the contest for the final time. The next possession started with a missed three by Joseph, but Gavranovic came up with the offensive rebound to reset the offense for Wabash. It paid off when senior Matt Storm (Anderson, IN/Lapel) drove to his right and launched a running jumper that rolled in as a foul was whistled against the Lords. Storm connected on the free throw, putting Wabash in front 59-56 with 1:40 left in the game.
Formato answered at the other end with a jumper with 1:24 left to cut the lead to one. The teams traded turnovers in the final minute before setting up the final play of the game.
Kenyon tried to get the ball in the hands of Formato, who had tossed in 42 just one week earlier against Earlham. But the Little Giants refused to let him have the shot, forcing Galloway to try the final attempt. Galloway had already hit three out of his first eight attempts from behind the arc, but saw this one hit hard off the back of the iron to give the Little Giants the win.
Storm tossed in 11 points for Wabash (11-14, 9-7 NCAC). Ronnie Ragains (FR/Fredricksburg, IN/West Washington) kept the Little Giants in the contest in the first half, scoring all seven of his points in the opening 20-minute period.
Wabash will face Allegheny, the number five seed in the tournament, for the second time this season. The only regular season meeting between the two squads took place at Chadwick Court back on January 3 with the Little Giants coming away with a 79-72 victory.