Crawfordsville, Ind. - DePauw nearly overcame a six-point deficit in the closing minute of its North Coast Athletic Conference opener at Wabash, but the Tigers were unable to get off a potential game-winning shot in the closing seconds as the Little Giants claimed a 62-61 win. The Tigers dropped to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the NCAC, while Wabash improved to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

Ahmoni Jones hit a 3-pointer with 1:03 left to give Wabash a 62-56 lead, but Grant Niego completed a three-point play with 30 seconds left to trim the margin to three. Edreece Redmond missed the front end of a one-and-one with 18 seconds remaining and Niego countered with a layup with 6.3 seconds left to make it 62-61. 

Rich Brooks then missed the front end of a one-and-one with 5.4 seconds left and Niego grabbed the rebound and headed down the right side of the court, but Redmond knocked the ball out of bounds in front of the DePauw bench. The Little Giants deflected the inbound pass out of bounds, leaving the Tigers with two-tenths of a seconds. The inbound pass from underneath the DePauw basket was snagged by Jones, preserving the Little Giants' win.

DePauw led just twice in the opening four minutes of the game and Wabash took a 34-28 lead into the halftime intermission. Redmond hit a three in the first two minutes of the second half to give Wabash its largest lead of the game at 37-28.

The Tigers rattled off seven straight to close to within two and the margin stayed within four points until Sam Comer and Randy Kelley hit back-to-back treys to give the hosts a 57-49 lead with 5:04 left.

Wabash came up empty on its next three possessions with two misses and a turnover, while Niego hit a jumper before Sam Jacobs made a free throw and a bucket to close the deficit to 57-54 at the 1:54 mark. Redmond countered with a layup before Stevenson hit a pair of free throws with 1:14 remaining. Jones then knocked in the three that set up the dramatic final minute.

Niego scored a game-high 19 points,while Jacobs followed with 14, Brady Kunka with 12 and Stevenson with 10. Stevenson and Niego each hauled down nine boards as DePauw held a 42-34 edge on the boards.

Redmond paced Wabash with 17 points with Kelley chipping in 13 and Jones 11. Jones grabbed seven rebounds and Kelley dished out four assists.

DePauw shot 40.0 percent to Wabash's 36.2 percent, but the Little Giants nailed 13-of-33 3-pointers to DePauw's 3-of-15.

The Tigers travel to Kenyon on Saturday, Dec. 2, for a 3 p.m. game.