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Wabash 51, Ohio Wesleyan 48 (1/23/2002)

Wabash broke a 46-46 tie with 4 free throws and held on to nip Ohio Wesleyan in North Coast Athletic Conference play on Wednesday at Crawfordsville, Ind.

Ohio Wesleyan took a 46-44 lead on a 3-pointer by junior guard Kyle Comstock (Sunbury/Buckeye Valley) with 7:07 to play. Wabash tied it on Kip Chase's follow of his own missed shot with 6:29 left in regulation, which would prove to be the last basket scored in the game.

Wabash went ahead to stay when Brady Claxton hit the front end of a 2-shot foul with 4:43 remaining, and after a Bishop miss, Joe DesJean hit both ends of a 2-shot foul with 4:24 to play for a 49-46 Wabash lead. DesJean added another free throw with 3:53 remaining to give the Little Giants a 50-46 advantage.

Freshman forward Brandon Cole (Sidney) sank a pair of free throws to bring the Bishops within 50-48 with 3:24 remaining, but Brady Claxton answered with a free throw for Wabash with 1:41 to play to make the score 51-48.

The Bishops got off shots by sophomore guard Jeff Huber (Lakewood/St. Edward), junior guard Jason Dopoulos (Strongsville) and sophomore center Travis Schwab (Medina), the latter just before the buzzer, but each 3-point try was off the mark.

Wabash scored the first basket of the game, but Ohio Wesleyan followed with a 10-0 run to take the biggest lead of the night. Huber started the burst with a lay-in, Schwab followed with a 3-point play, Dopoulos buried a 3-pointer and Schwab added a jumper for a 10-2 Bishop lead with 13:08 left in the first half.

But Wabash answered with a 9-0 run to retake the lead at 11-10, and neither team led by more than 4 points during the rest of the first half, which ended in a 25-25 tie on a dunk by freshman forward Seth Rhea (Delaware/Hayes) just before the buzzer.

The second half provided more of the same. Ohio Wesleyan built a 7-point lead, breaking a 32-32 tie with a 9-2 run fueled in part by 3-pointers by sophomore guard Shawn Kindred (Delaware/Hayes) and Dopoulos, but Wabash once again came right back, outscoring the Bishops 8-0 to retake the lead at 42-41.

Schwab led the Bishops with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Kindred had a team-high 3 assists.

DesJean led Wabash with 19 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Claxton with 11.