CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (December 10, 2022) – The Denison University men's basketball team put up a great effort to try and pick up a tough conference win on the road, but in the end, the Big Red fell short at Wabash College, 74-66, inside Chadwick Court.
Darren Rubin had a team-high 17 points,
Ricky Radtke also scored in double figures with 16 points and nine rebounds, and
Nick Heath contributed with 11 points.
As a team, Denison dominated in points in the paint (42-20) and outscored Wabash 12-8 in points off turnovers, 15-9 in fastbreak points and 16-7 in bench points. However, this one was decided on the boards as the Little Giants outrebounded the Big Red 42-26 overall and 13-4 on the offensive glass, leading to a 13-3 edge in second chance points.
In the first half, Denison used a 19-5 run to take a nine-point lead at 23-14 with five and a half minutes to go before the break, and deployed many different defensive sets to limit Wabash to only 2-for-16 shooting during a 10-minute span midway through the period.
Six different Denison players would score during the run, including seven points from Heath, who capped off the run with a 3-pointer followed by a breakaway dunk.
However, after the dunk by Heath, Wabash would answer with a 3-pointer on an offensive rebound, which started a big 17-6 run for the Little Giants in the last five minutes of the first half to send the home team into halftime with a two-point advantage at 31-29.
Then in the second half, the Big Red stayed within five points of the Little Giants until the final five minutes of the game. After a pair of free throws by Radtke with 9:33 left got Denison to within one (51-50) for the third time in the final 20 minutes, Wabash went on a 9-2 run ending with a 3-pointer to take an eight-point lead (60-52) with under five minutes remaining.
Back-to-back jumpers in the paint by Rubin would reduce Denison's deficit to four points (62-58) with just over two minutes to go, however, the Big Red were unable to ever get it down to a one-possession game at the end as Wabash connected on a 3-pointer on its next possession and then finished 9-for-10 from the charity stripe over the final minute and a half to close it out.
The Big Red will return home to face off against Kalamazoo College at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14, for their last game before heading to the D3 Music City Classic in Tennessee after Christmas Break.
