Andy Walsh sparked a three-point shooting barrage on the way to career-high 18 points to lead Wabash to a 55-49 victory over 22nd-ranked and North Coast Athletic Conference leader Wittenberg.

Walsh shot 7-of-10 from the field, hitting four of his six three-point attempts.

View photos from the Little Giants' victory here.

Wittenberg scored the first basket of the game before Derek Bailey answered with back-to-back three-point baskets to put Wabash up 6-2. Walsh added his first hoop of the game, starting an 11-5 run. Kasey Oetting, Jordan Surenkamp, and Bailey hit consecutive treys to push the Little Giants to a 19-9 lead.

"Bailey gave us a great start, which we really needed," Wabash head coach Antoine Carpenter said. "We also needed a lot of production off our bench, and Andy provided that for us tonight. He came into the game and hit several huge shots."

Walsh drilled a three with 3:42 left in the first half to put the Little Giants up 11 before Wittenberg closed out the period with a triple from Steven Newell to cut the lead to 26-19 at halftime behind a 6-for-12 effort for Wabash from behind the arc.

The Tigers opened the second half of play with a 9-1 run tie the game at 28-28 before Bailey's jump shot with 13:08 left produced the first basket of the period for Wabash. Wittenberg tied the game two over times, including a three-pointer from Josh McKee with 9:21 left to even the score at 37-37. McKee was fouled on the play and hit the free throw, giving the Tigers their first lead since the start of the game.

Walsh fired right back with another three-pointer to put the Little Giants up 40-38. After a Wittenberg free throw cut the lead to a point, Walsh missed a layup on a lob to the right side of the basket, but hustled after the rebound to tip in his own miss, putting Wabash up 42-39. The Tigers cut the lead to one point on three different occasions before Wabash went on a 7-1 run off a triple by Walsh and free throws by Brian Shelbourne and Aaron Zinnerman to salt away the victory.

Wittenberg (17-5, 11-2 NCAC) came into the night ranked second in the Great Lakes Region while holding a two-game lead over Wooster. The Scots knocked off Ohio Wesleyan 54-50 to draw within a game of the Tigers. Wooster plays at Wittenberg on Saturday. Wooster was third in the regional rankings, released earlier today, with Ohio Wesleyan in the fourth spot and Wabash in fifth. The regional rankings were released by the NCAA just hours before the Wabash-Wittenberg tipoff.

Alex Brandt finished with 12 points, while McKee and Zack Leahy each tallied 10. Wabash post player Nick Curosh held Wittenberg's leading scorer entering the contest, Clayton Black, to just five points on 2-of-7 shooting.

"Nick's most important task tonight was to defend Clayton Black, and he did a tremendous job," Carpenter said. "Nick is the catalyst for our defense. All our other guys fed off his energy and got out on Wittenberg's shooters, but it all really starts with Nick."

Bailey finished with 15 points in the contest, including 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range. Wabash finished 9-of-22 from beyond the arc, while Wittenberg hit just 3-of-17 long range attempts. The Tigers were just 10-of-20 from the free throw line, while Wabash connected on 10-of-15 free throws in the contest. The Little Giants held a three-rebound advantage in the game, 35-32. Curosh led Wabash with seven rebounds. The Little Giants also handed out 12 assists, paced by Curosh with four.

Wabash (17-6, 9-5 NCAC) moves into a tie for third place in the conference standings with Ohio Wesleyan. The Little Giants travel to Kenyon on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest. The Lords defeated Oberlin 69-42 to improve to 10-13 overall and 4-10 in NCAC games.