Senior Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) dropped a career-high 32 points as the Denison men's basketball team held off Wabash College for their first victory of 2009 on Saturday afternoon. The Big Red edged the Little Giants 78-71 in their North Coast Athletic Conference opener at Livingston Gymnasium in Granville.
The Big Red exploded out of the gate with an impressive 15-0 run spanning the opening 5:28. After starting the game 0-10 from the floor, Wabash scored their first points of the game at the 12:23 mark on a jumper by Derek Bailey. However, Denison remained hot and continued to push the pace as they built up a 19-point lead (29-10) with 7:08 left in the opening frame. The Little Giants started to get some momentum going in the later stages of the period thanks in part to a three-pointer by point guard Chase Haltom which trimmed the deficit to 31-16.
DU retook their 19 point advantage following a jumper by Mike Garabedian (La Grange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) and a pair of free throws by sophomore Josh Leuchtag (Houston, Texas/Lamar). However, Wabash answered by scoring on three of their next four possessions to shrink the gap to 12 points (37-25) with 44 seconds on the clock. Denison entered the locker room with a 39-25 edge after a layup by sophomore Brett Tiberi (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) with two seconds on the clock.
The Little Giants showed no signs of dying in the second half of play. A three-point by Haltom and a layup by Ben Burkett had Wabash within nine with 18 minutes left in regulation. The Big Red answered with a 12-5 spurt to expand their lead back to 16 points (51-35). The run was fueled by 10 points, including two three-pointers, from Luther.
The Little Giants continued to battle and engineered a 10-2 run to trim the deficit to 53-45 almost halfway through the period. With the Big Red leading 55-45, freshman Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) hit two huge baskets, which included converting a traditional three-point play, to give DU a 13-point edge. On the next possession, Hale drew a foul and sank both free throws to increase the Denison lead to 15 with 7:33 remaining in the second half.
Wabash was able to close the margin to 11, but sophomore Casey Stockton (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) found a cutting Tiberi who hit an acrobatic layup in traffic and drew a foul with 4:51 remaining in the period. The Big Red advantage was back to 14 points after Tiberi sank the free throw.
The Little Giants continued to chip away at the DU lead with time running out in the half. After a pair of Haltom free throws trimmed the gap to 71-61, Wes Smith scored back-to-back layups to cut the Denison edge to six with 59 seconds on the clock. Down 73-65, Aaron Brock converted a pair of free throws to get Wabash back within six, but a 5-for-6 performance at the line down the stretch secured the Big Red win.
Luther was 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line. The senior's 32 points were the most scored by a DU player since Dan Hodgkinson tallied 35 on Jan. 31, 2007 against Oberlin. Additionally, his perfect day at the free throw line was a career best, surpassing an 8-for-8 performance last year against Earlham. Hale finished the night with 15 points and five boards, while Tiberi logged 10 tallies and five assists. Garabedian led the team with a career-high 12 rebounds. His previous career-best (10) was achieved last week at Mount St. Joseph.
Smith led Wabash with 20 points and nine boards, while Haltom had 17 tallies and Burkett chipped in 12.
With the win, Denison improves to 1-5 on the year and 1-0 in the NCAC, while the Little Giants fall to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play. The Big Red returns to action on Wednesday (Dec. 9) when they host Washington & Jefferson College. Tip-off from Livingston Gymnasium is slated for 7:30 p.m.
