Junior forward Joe DesJean (Indianapolis, IN/Perry Meridian) added an exclamation point to the victory by scoring his 1,000th career point and recording his 600th career rebound in the win, helping the Little Giants to advance to the semi-final round of the tournament.
The only problem Wabash encountered was the start of the game. After DesJean scored on the opening play of the contest, Denison scored the next 12 points to take a 12-2 lead to force Wabash to take a timeout. The Little Giants came roaring back after the timeout, tying the game at 14-14 with 12:43 left in the first half. After trading baskets over the next five minutes, Wabash withstood another run by the Big Red. Denison took a three-point lead with 5:34 left in the opening period, only to see the Little Giant offense finally awaken.
The Little Giants outscored Denison 14-0 over the final five minutes of the first half to take a 41-33 lead after trailing by three at the start of the run. Denison's Tony Price canned a baseline three just a second ahead of the first half buzzer to cut the Wabash lead to 41-33.
Price's three only seemed to spark the Wabash squad. After the Big Red scored the first basket of the second half to make it a six-point game, Wabash scored the next six points to go ahead 47-35. The teams traded baskets over the next minute of play, ending the streak with a layup by Denison's Charlie DeLacey with 15:45 left in the game.
It was the last basket Denison would score over the next 13 minutes.
The Little Giants outscored Denison 20-0 over the next eight minutes to put the game out of reach and send Wabash to a Friday night meeting with the College of Wooster in the semi-finals of the conference tourney.
DesJean finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds, his 13th double-double of the year. Brady Claxton (Shelbyville, IN/Shelbyville) added 16 points and six rebounds. Ryan Short (Indianapolis, IN/Perry Meridian) scored 12 points. DeLacey, Price, and Perry Young each had nine points for Denison.
DesJean is the 20th Wabash player to reach the 1,000-point plateau. His career total stands at 1,005 points. He is the eighth Little Giant player to record 600 rebounds in his career after grabbing his 605th career board in the win.
Wabash moves to 15-10 with the victory. Denison ends the season 6-20. Wabash will face Wooster in the first game of the conference semi-finals on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. after Wooster defeated Allegheny 82-72 in first-round action. The semi-final and championship games will take place at Wittenberg University after the top-seeded Tigers dispatched Earlham College in first-round play 78-51. Wittenberg will play Oberlin in Friday's second contest. Oberlin defeated Ohio Wesleyan 56-49 in the first round of play.