CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (January 3, 2024) – Playing against a team that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons, the Denison University men's basketball team put together a strong effort from start to finish to earn its fifth North Coast Athletic Conference win of the 2023-24 season with a 73-65 road win at Wabash College on Wednesday night.

Denison poured it on the Little Giants in the first half with 57 percent (16-28) shooting overall and eight 3-pointers by seven different players en route to holding a 42-29 advantage at the break. The Big Red moved the ball well on offense against the Wabash defense, collecting 11 first-half assists on their 16 made baskets.

As expected, however, Wabash would make it a game in the second half and got all the way to within two points of Denison (48-46) following an 8-0 run with 12 and a half minutes to go.

Fortunately, Denison called a timeout to settle itself down and answered with a 9-0 run featuring a steal and a 3-pointer by Scotty Dean, two free throws by Ricky Radtke and a jumper by Cameron Smith and then ending with a jumper by Trevor Reed to make it 57-46 with just over nine minutes remaining.

Reed led Denison with 17 points off the bench and was 5-for-6 from the field. Radtke was next with 14 points and added a team-high six rebounds while shooting 50 percent (6-12) from the field, and Dean also reached double digits in scoring with 11 points.

In a matchup of the two teams in the NCAC with the most made 3-pointers per game, it was Denison that shot 40 percent (9-22) from three while Wabash finished just 4-for-23 (17.4 percent).

The Big Red remain the last team in the NCAC without a loss in conference action and they improve to 9-5 overall and 5-0 in the NCAC while Wabash falls to 7-7 and 3-2. In addition, Denison now holds a one-and-a-half-game lead over Wittenberg University in the NCAC standings while Wabash falls to third place overall with the loss.  

Denison will now have a week off from action until playing at Wittenberg University starting on 7 p.m. next Wednesday, January 10.