GREENCASTLE — The Wabash basketball team used a first half TKO to roll over DePauw for a 74-4 win.
The Little Giants used a 16-0 run in the first half to take a 20-point lead and never looked back, dominating their rivals from the get-go. That scoring streak started and finished with a two-pointer, with four treys in the middle. The last four buckets were four-straight made shots.
The win moves Wabash to 3-4 overall and 2-0 in the NCAC while the Tigers drop to 2-5 on the season and 0-1 in the league.
The win is the fifth in a row for the Little Giants over DePauw as the two teams played for the 230th time and they are 7-1 in the last eight.
The 26-point margin is the largest at DePauw since Mac Petty was coach and Pete Metzelaars was a junior in 1981, when the Little Giants won 89-59.
The numbers were all overwhelmingly in favor of the Little Giants, spurred on by a large and raucous Sphinx Club contingent in striped coveralls and sans shirts.
Wabash had a season-high dozen three pointers. DePauw hit three. The Little Giants shot 48 percent from long range, while the Tigers were 29 percent for the game, going 16-of-56 from the floor.
“This was coming,” Wabash coach Kyle Brumett said. “We needed to play well in a big game and I’m really pleased that we played so well on the road. We have played poorly this season at times when we needed to play well, and tonight we played well.”
The Little Giants also took care of the ball.
“We had one turnover in the first half,” Brumett noted. “You can set your defense when you don’t turn the ball over.”
The offense was ready from the start and there were plenty of contributors.
The visitors hit 51 percent of their shots and all eight guys who played got at least one field goal. Five of them hit a trey.
Leading the way was Robert Sorenson.
The freshman from Guerin Catholic dropped 21 points, and his five three-pointers were two more than DePauw’s total.
“We told him it was coming,” Brumett said. “We’ve been waiting for this. It is just getting into the speed and physicality of the college game. This will be a confidence builder.”
“The last couple games were a little rough from the shooting side,” Sorenson said, “but the coaches and the guys on the team just kept encouraging me. This was just a great team win, and one we needed. I’m just trying to be a sponge, learning from the coaches and upper classmen.”
One of those upper classmen was senior Vinny Buccilla, who led by example, going a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line to add 15 points.
Sophomore Nate Matelic came off the bench to score 12, as the Wabash bench contributed 38 points.
“We’ve got lots of guys who can hurt other teams,” Brumett added. “We’ve got the shooters, but we have guys like Randy Kelly, who came in and handled the ball for 27 minutes, had three assists and not a single turnover. We just came at them (DePauw) in waves tonight. It’s a great feeling to win a rivalry game like this.”
Not to be overlooked are the four blocks of 7-2 senior Noah Hupmann.
The four rejections put him exactly at 100 blocks and moves him into fifth on the all-time Wabash list.
The Little Giants are back in action Saturday with a conference home game against Oberlin.
“The guys are all learning their roles,” Brumett said, “but Saturday will be a tough game. We will have our hands full.
The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. tip.
