Sejin Kim

Box Score

Kenyon College KENM 3-22,1-17 NCAC

Wabash WABM 21-3,16-1 NCAC

Kenyon College KENM

3-22,1-17 NCAC

Final

Feb. 19, 2022

Wabash WABM

21-3,16-1 NCAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Kenyon College KENM	40	35	75
Wabash WABM	50	48	98

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 2/19/2022 5:00:00 PM | Lucien Kisch

Wabash pulls away from Kenyon in second half

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- The Kenyon College men's basketball team hung tight against the Wabash College Little Giants in the early going of Saturday's game, but in the end, the Lords didn't have enough to get past the top team in the North Coast Athletic Conference, falling 98-75.

Both teams started out on fire, sinking shot after shot. The Lords made their first seven, a superlative performance that kept things neck-and-neck with the No. 20-ranked team in NCAA Division III.

A Peter Haas layup tied the game for Kenyon at 8-8. Later, the Lords pulled within four points at 25-21 after Drew Valentino made a turnaround jump shot with 13:07 left in the half. A 14-5 run from Wabash, however, extended the Little Giants' lead to 39-26 as the Lords' accuracy started to fade.

On the strength of buckets from Max Belt and Juan Sergio Matabuena, Kenyon cut back the Wabash lead to single digits, but the Little Giants always seemed to respond, bringing the score to 50-40 at halftime.

The Lords had a strong shooting performance during the half, hitting 53.3 percent of field goals, including 55.6 percent on three-pointers. The shooting performance was tarnished a bit by the fact that Kenyon had 10 turnovers in the half.

Early in the second half, a layup by Valentino pulled Kenyon within four points at 52-48, putting the Little Giants on a serious upset alert. Wabash, however, was able to recollect and built its lead to 62-48 over the next two minutes of play.

The Lords coughed up the ball six more times in the first ten minutes of the half, allowing the Little Giants to build a commanding 77-54 lead at the halfway point of the half. Over the final ten minutes, that lead grew to as many as 28 points.

Valentino ended up topping the Lords' scoring chart with 13 points. He also had three rebounds, three assists and one steal. Gefen Bar-Cohen chipped in 12 points and grabbed a team-high eight boards. Sergio Matabuena tallied eleven points, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc, and Belt finished with 10 points for Kenyon, which wrapped up the 2021-22 season with a 3-22 overall record and a 1-17 conference mark.

Wabash had five double-digit scorers, including Jack Davidon, who threw in 24 points, and Kellen Schreiberm, who scored 16. As they head toward postseason play, the Little Giants used the win to improve to 21-3 overall and 16-1 within the NCAC.

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