Senior center Ryan Stephens scored 11 points and grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds to lead Wabash to a 54-52 victory at Ohio Wesleyan University Wednesday night.
Stephens was one of three Little Giant players in double figures. Andrew Zimmer paced the Wabash effort with 14 points, while sophomore Brian Maloney scored a career-best 12 points.
It was the Wabash defense that proved to be the difference-maker in the game. Three weeks after giving up 55 points to the Bishops' Ben Chojnacki and Dustin Rudegeair, the Little Giants held the duo to combined 13 points. Chojnacki, the leading scorer for OWU coming into the contest, finished with only four points before leaving the game in the second half with an injury to his left knee. Rudegeair, the North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week, was held to eight points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field.
Stephens gave Wabash a 7-0 lead to open the contest on a basket and a free throw after Zimmer and Andy Root put the first points on the scoreboard with early hoops. The Little Giants would lead by as many as 13 points with 2:38 left in the opening period when Maloney hit two of his eight first-half points. The Bishops responded with a layup by Ted Uritus and two three-pointers by reserve guard Kyle Miller to trim the lead to five points at the break.
Wabash took a nine-point lead in the opening minutes of the second half on a layup by Stephens and a steal and dunk by Zimmer. Two baskets by OWU cut it back to a five-point game. The score bounced back from eight points down to five much of the second half, but each time the Bishops had a chance to draw closer Wabash's defense would step up and make play after play.
Up five with 1:21 left in the contest, Matt Shirer finally got OWu to within three with a driving layup with 51 seconds remaining. Junior guard Earl Rooks responded at the other end for the Little Giants, scoring two of his eight points on a driving, twisting layup to put Wabash up 54-49. The Bishops fired two three-pointers in desperation in the final five seconds before Uritas finally connected a hair before the buzzer according to the officials, who signalled the trey good as they raced off the floor.
The victory ended a three-game winning streak against Wabash by the Bishops. The Little Giants split the season series with OWU after losing 74-50 at home earlier this year.
Wabash moves to 8-12 with the victory and 5-6 in NCAC play. The Little Giants play Denison University at Chadwick Court Saturday evening at 8 p.m.