It’s not quite the rivalry that the football teams bring out in the fall, but the bad blood is still there between Wabash and DePauw and it played out on the court Wednesday as the Tigers made the trip from Greencastle to take on the Little Giants. From the opening tip Wabash controlled the game and held a 43-36 lead. Then to begin the second half the Little Giant offense dominated and took full control using an 11-0 run to go up 61-44 lead and the Little Giants as they did in the fall were victorious over their rival by a final score of 96-70.
In the win, at the 12:27 mark of the second half, senior guard Jack Davidson drilled a step-back three to eclipse the 2,000 point mark for his career. He ended the game leading all scorers with 23 points and now just needs 61 points to move into first place on the all-time scoring list for the Little Giants.
“It’s crazy,” Davidson simply put. “I just have to give a lot of credit to my coaching staff and teammates. Coach Brumett has trusted me ever since I’ve stepped foot on campus and started me in every game. I’ve been blessed with so many good teammates over the years like Tyler and Kellen who I’m fortunate to play with now. It’s not just an individual award, it’s a team award what I’ve accomplished.”
Early in the game the Tigers did everything they good to rattle Davidson including doubling him off ball-screens. It worked to a certain degree for much of the first half, but once Davidson made his first shot from long range, that was all the spark that he needed.
“I know that every game is going to be different,” Davidson said. “The first 5-10 minutes I just feel out how the defense is playing me. I missed some shots early on that I normally make, but I kept getting good looks so I kept shooting and when I got one to go finally the flood gates started to open a little bit.”
To go along with Davidson’s 23 points, Wabash also had a great game from Ahmoni Jones who ended with 19. Tyler Watson scored 13 while Edreece Redmond came off the Little Giant bench to score 12. Kellen Schreiber added 11 and Jesse Hall scored eight.
Wabash which knows it can score with anybody had their defense step up in the win holding the Tigers to just 39 percent from the field and 2-14 from three. That above all else is what stood out to Little Giant coach Kyle Brumett.
“We’ve been really trying to focus on getting our guys committed to guarding,” he said. “The other team usually does get some careless baskets because of our lapses on that side of the ball. Our guys came out in the second half and our defense played excellent for the first ten minutes which allowed to build that lead. I was extremely happy with how we played during that stretch.”
While the night belonged to Davidson, Brumett was very pleased with his other guys who played valuable minutes and contributed well in the victory.
“Ahmoni gets overshadowed at times for what he does for us,” he said. “Edreece and Jesse played well off the bench and we have a ton of talent on that bench that want to play. Jack, Kellen, and Tyler have attracted guys like this with playing as well as we have.”
The 2,000 point mark for Davidson makes him only the second player in school history to achieve that mark. Wabash basketball has a long and storied history of great players to come through its program, but Davidson can say he’s now done something that only one other person has in Wabash College history.
“It’s down right incredible and so deserved,” Brumett said. “We have a lot of hard working guys but no one’s worked harder than Jack. Every point that he’s scored for us, he’s earned. He simply loves basketball and loves competing. His level of play is part of the reason some of our guys have evolved into such good defenders because they have to guard him in practice and that’s a chore.”
The win for the Little Giants is their ninth straight and improves their record to 12-3 on the season and 7-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. They’ll have a week off to rest before making trip to Wittenberg next Wednesday. Back on Dec. 11, the Little Giants dominated Wittenberg at Chadwick Court in a 101-73 win.
