Ohio Wesleyan 69, Wabash 66

Jan. 28, 2004

Sophomore guard Ross Rybarczyk (Oberlin/Elyria Catholic) drilled a 3-pointer with :28 left to put Ohio Wesleyan ahead to stay and the Battling Bishops went on to defeat Wabash in North Coast Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night at Crawfordsville, Ind.

The win was Ohio Wesleyan's first ever on Wabash's home court. The Little Giants had won all of the previous 12 games played between the teams in Crawfordsville.

Wabash had tied the game at 60-60 on a 3-pointer by Matt Storm with 3:26 left in regulation time.

Ohio Wesleyan answered with a lay-in by senior post Travis Schwab (Medina) on its next possession, but the Little Giants tied the game with an Adonis Joseph lay-in with 1:23 remaining.

Junior wing Tyler Reed (Marysville/Fairbanks) sank a pair of free throws with 1:07 left to give the Bishops a 64-62 lead, but the Little Giants came back with a pair of Storm free throws with :45 to play, setting up Rybarczyk's 3-pointer that gave the Bishops a 67-64 lead.

Storm pulled Wabash within 67-66 with a basket with :05 left, but the Bishops were able to get the ball inbounds and sophomore wing Andy Warnock (Delaware/Hayes) scored at the buzzer to account for the 69-66 final.

Wabash jumped to an early 8-2 lead, but the Bishops came back to tie the game on consecutive 3-pointers by Warnock. The Little Giants answered with 5 straight points by Storm to pull ahead by a count of 13-8, but Ohio Wesleyan responded with a 3-point play by freshman post Ben Chojnacki (Medina) and a tip-in by Warnock to tie the game once again.

Ohio Wesleyan closed the first half with a basket by senior post Charlie Smith (Centerburg) and a Rybarczyk 3-pointer to take a 35-29 lead into the locker room, and the Bishops threatened to break the game open when Warnock opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Rybarczyk followed with a jumper to give Ohio Wesleyan a 40-29 lead with 18:39 left in the second half.

The Bishops still led, 52-40, with 11:53 left in regulation time before Wabash pulled back into the game with a 9-0 run. Alex Rinks scored to start the Wabash spurt, then Kyle Medeiros had a 3-point play and added another free throw and Kyle Coffey added a 3-point play to bring the Little Giants within 52-49 with 9:16 remaining.

After Schwab and Rinks traded lay-ins that made the score 54-51, Ohio Wesleyan, with 8:08 to play, neither team led by more than 3 points, setting up the thrilling ending.

Schwab led the Bishops with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Warnock finished with 15 points and Chojnacki added 13 points. Reed and junior wing Bryan King (Sidney) shared the team lead with 3 assists apiece.

Schwab's 7 rebounds increased his career total to 687, moving him into ninth place on the Ohio Wesleyan list ahead of Lee Rowlinson, who compiled 685 rebounds during the 1984-88 seasons.

Storm led Wabash with 17 points. Kyle Coffey added 16 points and shared the team lead with 6 rebounds, and Wes Koch also grabbed 6 rebounds. Joseph had a team-high 3 assists for the Little Giants.

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