Wabash opened Saturday’s game at Kenyon without the services of the leading scorer in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The Little Giants got a combined 51 points from a pair of freshmen to take a 92-69 victory over the host Lords to remain unbeaten in NCAC play.
Jack Davidson, the conference leader with a 22.7 points-per-game average, missed Saturday’s game for Wabash (14-1, 8-0 NCAC) due to an illness. Freshmen Keller Schreiber and Tyler Watson stepped up for the Little Giants. Schreiber scored a career-high 26 points with an 8-of-13 shooting performance from the field. Watson also netted a career-best effort with 25 points against Kenyon (1-14, 0-8 NCAC), connecting on 9-of-13 shot attempts.
Schreiber, earning his second start of the season, set career-best marks in nearly every offensive category. The freshman was perfect from the free throw with a 6-for-6 performance. He finished 4-of-7 from three-point range and played 31 minutes overall. Wabash shot well once again as a team, hitting 32-of-57 attempts for 56.1 percent for the game. The Little Giants shot 17-of-31 in the opening half for 54 percent. Watson provided the early lead for Wabash with a jump shot for a 2-0 advantage the Little Giants would never relinquish. The Little Giants claimed a 14-point lead in the near the end of the first period on a three-point basket by Schreiber that sent Wabash to the locker room with a 44-30 advantage. Kenyon opened the second period with an 8-0 run to trim the lead to six points but Schreiber connected on a three-point play with a jump shot in the lane and a free throw. Wabash extended its lead to double digits once again before eventually owning a 28-point advantage at 84-56 after a three-point basket by Connor Rotterman, who scored 13 points for the Little Giants, before finishing the game with the 23-point victory. Wabash limited the Lords to 25-of-60 shooting from the field (41.7 percent, including a 6-of-23 effort from three-point range for 26.1 percent shooting. The Little Giants snared 39 rebounds, including 12 offensive rebounds, compared to 22 for Kenyon. Harrison Hallstrom grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to go with eight points. Ugnius Zilinskas paced Kenyon with 17 points. Konrad Christian added 14 points. The Little Giants remain in first place in the NCAC standings. Wabash holds a one-game lead over Wooster (12-3, 7-1 NCAC) after the Scots won 73-65 at Wittenberg Saturday evening. Wabash will face arch-rival DePauw University Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.