Men: Little Giants score big win

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Kellen Schreiber gave Wabash good reason to celebrate when his last-second layup lifted the Little Giants over No. 15 Wooster.
Photo by Tom Runge, Wabash athletics

Wabash topped No. 15 Wooster on a last-second layup in a battle of NCAC unbeatens while Saturday night was a good one for both sets of Vikings in the CCIW.

Kellen Schreiber's layup with one second left lifted Wabash over No. 15 Wooster 62-60. The teams were stuck at 60 points apiece for over two minutes and Wooster had numerous opportunities to take the lead but missed a free throw and its final four field goal attempts. Ben Stachowski grabbed a rebound for Wabash with three seconds left and the Little Giants called time out to set up the game-winning play. Box score

Jack Davidson scored 22 points for the Wabash (7-0, 3-0) who won just 12 games all of last season. Danyon Hempy scored 22 points on 9-for-20 shooting for Wooster (7-1, 3-1).

No. 3 Augustana held off No. 7 Illinois Wesleyan 67-60 in Rock Island and improved to 2-0 in the CCIW. After a back-and-forth second half in which the game was tied seven times in the final 10 minutes, Nolan Ebels gave the Vikings a 58-56 lead with two free throws. Brady Rose scored for Illinois Wesleyan, and Pierson Wofford answered with a jumper to extend the Vikings' lead to three. Ebels followed with another basket to put Augustana up five with 25 seconds left and Augustana made its final four free throw attempts to close out the game.

North Park upset No. 20 North Central (Ill.) 95-88 behind a big night from Toby Marek. He scored 29 points, including 12-for-14 from the foul line. The Vikings (3-7, 2-1) shot 29-for-34 from the charity stripe as a team and the Cardinals made 23 of their 27 attempts.

Randolph-Macon men also got bit by the upset bug as the 16th ranked Yellow Jackets fell at Christopher Newport, 72-61. The Captains got a combined 31 points on 11-for-19 shooting, along with 15 rebounds, from Cutch Ellis and Jason Aigner.

All-American Jake Ross looked more like himself for Springfield, but that wasn't enough to stop No. 2 Williams from beating the Pride 75-71 on the road. The Ephs used a 10-2 run midway through the second half to open a 66-58 lead. The Pride pulled within two on a Heath Post three-pointer with 2:24 remaining but the Ephs shut Springfield out the rest of the way. Four of the Williams starters scored double figures, led by Bobby Casey with 24. Kyle Scadlock added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Ephs (9-0). Ross, who was injured early in the season, registered 24 points in 36 minutes.

Entering Saturday there was a big difference in records for undefeated UW-Whitewater and winless Alma, but you couldn't tell by what happened on the court. Whitewater needed six points in the final 90 seconds of regulation to force overtime where the 12th-ranked Warhawks (7-0) finally defeated the Scots 101-97. Whitewater doubled up Alma on points in the paint, 52-26, and got all by four points from its starters, led by Melvin Brown, Jr. who had 29. Cole Kleiver scored 35 points for the Scots (0-8).

Outside the Top 25, TCNJ pulled Montclair State back to the pack in the NJAC as the Lions defeated the Red Hawks 93-83. Randall Walko scored a career-high 34 points for TCNJ which sits in a three-way tie for first with Montclair and William Paterson. Sean Smith scored 35 points to lead the Pioneers past Stockton 80-71.

Another Sean Smith scored even more in a losing effort, as Sean Smith, Jr. scored a program-record 46 points in Manhattanville's 81-77 loss to Wilkes. The Colonels improved to 7-1 with the victory. The similarly named Shawn Smith scored 15 points to help FDU-Florham surprise defending conference champion Misericordia 72-61. The Devils (3-7, 1-1) have already equaled their win total from a season ago when they went 3-22.

Sean Mayberry's buzzer-beating jump shot lifted Stevenson over Albright 96-95 in overtime. Mayberry scored 18 points off the bench for the Mustangs (7-1, 3-0). Justin Cooper and Kenny Charles both scored career highs and Cortland finished a perfect road trip to Western New York by beating Buffalo State, 90-87.

The two schools that will play for a Division III football title next weekend picked up wins in men's basketball on Saturday. Mount Union opened up a 13-point lead at the half and went on to beat Wilmington 92-74. Mary Hardin-Baylor downed Texas-Dallas 85-76.