GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Chris Sullivan era began on a high note for Denison men's basketball on Sunday afternoon as the Big Red outlasted Wabash 66-63 for a season-opening victory at Livingston Gymnasium. Sullivan is in his first season as the head men's basketball coach at Denison after serving as an assistant coach for the last nine years and the associate head coach for the previous four years.

Highlighted by shooting 49 percent from the field in the first half and 16 first half points from junior Kellen Schreiber, early momentum sided with the Little Giants as they entered the break with a 34-28 advantage.

With Wabash still leading by as many as nine, 40-31, to open the second half of play, the Denison offense started to catch fire when sophomore Will Hunter buried a triple from the wing to make it a six-point game, 40-34, with 17:05 remaining. Two possessions later, Hunter returned to the bucket on a coast-to-coast fast break layup and Kevin Cheng followed that with a three to cut the Wabash lead to one, 40-39, with 15:29 left to play.

The Big Red continued to stay hot to the tune of a 13-0 scoring run that was capped off by a layup from junior John Faller and a three-pointer off the hands of senior Conor Fenton, leading to a 44-40 advantage for Denison at 13:55.

Following four more lead changes over the next 3:43 of action, the Big Red looked to pull away with less than 10 minutes to play after a pair of free throws from Darren Rubin jumpstarted a 10-2 scoring run that included five points from Spencer Patenaude and another three from Cheng. Denison carried a 58-49 lead with 5:25 remaining in the game.
Despite the deficit, Wabash continued to attack the basket as four free throws from Schreiber and baskets from Connor Rotterman and Tyler Watson helped the Little Giants go on a 11-2 scoring run to put Denison in front by two, 60-58, with one-minute remaining.

With 36 seconds to play, a missed three-pointer from Cheng gave the ball back to the Little Giants, but Rubin kept Denison's hopes alive when he stole the ball from Rotterman and turned it into three points on the other end off a fast break layup and free throw from Hunter.

A pair of free throws from Schreiber and a three for Watson kept Wabash hopeful in the final seconds, but Denison buried 3-of-4 free throws at the end to hold on for Coach Sullivan's first win as the head coach of the Big Red.

Hunter led the Big Red with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting with six rebounds and four assists. Fenton secured a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds while Cheng and Patenaude combined for 20 of Denison's 26 bench points.

Wabash's Schreiber tallied a game-high 26 points and added 10 rebounds. Watson totaled 18 points and seven boards while Reis Thomas followed with six points and six assists.

The Big Red will return to action this Thursday, Feb. 11 when they travel to Delaware, Ohio for a 6 p.m. tip-off with Ohio Wesleyan at Branch Rickey Arena. That game is also closed to spectators, but will be streamed live by Ohio Wesleyan.