North Coast Athletic Conference co-leaders Wabash and Denison met Wednesday evening at Chadwick Court to determine sole possession of the league lead with five games remaining on the regular-season schedule. The host Little Giants got a last-second opportunity to try and win the game but could not get a final shot off in a 53-51 loss to the 21st-ranked Big Red.
Wabash (13-7, 9-2 NCAC) trailed by six points with 3:50 remaining in the contest. Junior guard Randy Kelley scored on a driving layup from the right side of the basket to cut the Denison (18-2, 10-1 NCAC) advantage to 50-46. The Big Red missed a three-pointer on their next possession and Wabash capitalized with a three-pointer from Vinny Buccilla to cut the lead to one point with 3:04 on the clock. Trevor Reed, who scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, nailed a pull-up jumper to put the Big Red back in front by three.
Buccilla drove the lane and scored on the next possession with 2:26 remaining in the game to bring Wabash back to within a point at 52-51. Neither team scored in the remainder of the contest, with the clocking whittling down to the final seconds. Buccilla drove to the basket on the left side but could not get his final shot to go with 11 seconds remaining. Noah Hupmann grabbed the offensive rebound but was tied up by Denison’s Tyler Miller, forcing a held ball that gave possession to the Big Red.
With only three fouls called against Wabash in the second half, the Little Giants fouled on the next two inbound plays with the clock winding down to seven seconds. Cameron Smith triggered the next inbound pass for Denison, but his throw-in sailed out of bounds to give Wabash the ball under its own basket. The Little Giants found Rich Brooks at the top of the key for a three-pointer, but his shot hit off the rim, with Denison snaring the rebound.
Two more quick fouls put the Big Red at the free-throw line with less than a second remaining. Darren Rubin hit the first free throw for the Big Red, but Smith jumped into the lane early on the second for a Denison turnover, giving the basketball to Wabash 94 feet away from tying or winning the game.
Josh Whack fired the inbound pass for the Little Giants, but his throw was tipped by Denison, starting the clock and ending any heroic effort by Wabash ahead of the final horn.
The first 20 minutes of the game was an offensive slog for both teams, leading to a 21-19 first-half score. Wabash shot 5 of 25 from the field in the opening half, while Denison made 8 of 35 field-goal attempts. The Little Giants finished the game shooting 36.4 percent by making 20 of 55 shots overall. The Big Red shot 31.1 percent from the field on 19-of-61 shooting, making 9 of 31 three-point tries.
One week after making 14 three-point tries against DePauw, the Little Giants could not get many long-range shots to fall against Denison. Wabash made only 3 of 25 shots from behind the arc for 12 percent shooting. Free throws also proved costly for the home team as the Little Giants made only 8 of their 16 attempts from the line. Denison went 6 of 7 from the charity stripe.
Buccilla led Wabash with 14 points. Whack finished with 12 points. Hupmann scored eight points and grabbed 15 rebounds, one shy of tying his career single-game mark of 16. The senior post player also blocked four shots in the contest.
Wabash looks to regroup with another tough conference matchup on Saturday. The Little Giants travel to Wooster, Ohio, to take on the Fighting Scots from the College of Wooster at 2:15 p.m.
