Wabash Dominates in 84-59 Win Over St. Francis

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CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. --- Six Little Giants scored in double figures, led by career-best efforts from Nick Curosh and Brian Shelbourne, to give Wabash an 84-59 victory over St. Francis (IL) Sunday afternoon.

Cursoh was perfect from the field, connecting on all eight shot attempts. Shelbourne nearly matched Curosh shot for shot, hitting seven of his nine attempts. Both scored 17 points to pace the Wabash offense. The duo also led Wabash in rebounding with seven apiece.

Joining the two 17-point efforts from Shelbourne and Curosh were Derek Bailey (14 points), Aaron Zinnerman (12 points), Jordan Surenkamp (11 points), and Kasey Oetting (10 points).

St. Francis had taken a 5-4 lead in the first two minutes of the game before the Little Giants up-tempo offense and pressure defense created a 19-2 scoring run over the next six minutes to give Wabash and first-year head coach Antoine Carpenter a 2-0 record for the season.

Curosh dominated inside, not only scoring on set offensive plays, but also grabbing offensive rebounds for put backs. The senior forward had four offensive boards in 32 minutes of action.

Shelbourne showed good range and the ability to drive to the basket. He connected on his only three-point attempt of the game and handed out four assists to add to his offensive output. Bailey also tied his career-best effort with four assists. The Little Giants had 16 assists for the game.

Surenkamp and Oetting did a large portion of their scoring damage at the free throw line. Surenkamp was 6-for-six from th stripe, while Oetting was 5-of-6.

Wabash dominated nearly every statistical category in the game, shooting 21-of-51 (52.9 percent) from the field while holding the Fighting Saints to 40.4 percent (23-of-57). St. Francis was cold from beyond the arc, connecting on just four of their 22 three-point shots, while Wabash was 5-of-10. Wabash also forced 17 turnovers and collected six steals, led by Shelbourne with two individual steals. Bailey finished with three of the four blocked shots for the Little Giants, with Surenkamp adding the final rejection.

The Little Giants return to action Saturday evening when Wabash will play Elmhurst College at 8 p.m. in the second game of the Mike Rokicki Community vs. Cancer Tournament at DePauw University.