Senior forward Caleb Lyttle scored a career-best 19 along with six assists and five rebounds to lead the Wabash basketball team to an 88-68 victory over Kenyon College Saturday afternoon at Chadwick Court.
The victory snapped a three-game losing skid by the Little Giants, improving the team's record to 11-6 overall and 5-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. (Click here to view a photo album from the win over Kenyon.)
Lyttle was 7-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-8 from the free throw line in the contest. His six assists fell one short of tying his career-best effort in that category.
The game was as close at three points with 9:55 showing on the first half game clock before Kyle Coffey and Kyle Medeiros sparked a 6-0 scoring run to put the Little Giants up nine points. Coffey came off the bench to score on an offensive rebound, then Medeiros came up with a steal and layup on the next Kenyon possession. After a missed three-pointer by the Lords, Wabash went inside to Coffey to make it a 23-14 advantage.
A Michael Woods three pushed the lead to 12 points, where it stayed for much of the remainder of the half before a pair of scores in the final minute cut the Wabash lead to six at the half.
Lyttle opened the scoring in the second half, missing the opening layup of the period before getting a second chance on an offensive board. The two points gave Wabash a 42-34 lead and sparked a 15-point second half scoring explosion by Lyttle. He finished the period 5-of-10 from the field with five free throws. He became the scoring threat for Wabash after helping others score in the first half, compiling five of his six assists in the opening period.
Kenyon cut the lead to five on free throws by Tyler Rehm and Mike Cohen before the Little Giants went on a 12-0 run with two layups by Lyttle, a three by Medeiros, a jumper by Adonis Joseph, and a layup and free throw for the old-fashioned three-point-play by Coffey. That pushed the lead to 17 points, putting Wabash with 14:34 left on the game clock. The Lords would get no closer than 13 points from that point.
Wabash shot 32-of-71 from the field, including 9-of-20 from the three-point arc. The Little Giants grabbed 47 rebounds, their second-best total of the year, converting 22 offensive boards into 20 points.
Medeiros finished with 16 points, while Joseph had 12 points and five boards. Coffey added 11 points and five rebounds. Matt Formato scored 24 points to lead Kenyon.
Wabash returns to action Wednesday when the Little Giants face the number-one ranked team in the nation, the Wittenberg University Tigers, in Springfield, Ohio at 7:30 p.m.
PHOTOS - (Top left) Kyle Coffey rises over the Kenyon defenders for two of his 11 points.
(Bottom right) Michael Woods had eight points and six rebounds in the Little Giants' win over the Lords.