Larry Farmer scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds in Denison's loss to Wabash.

Chase Haltom scored 20 points and five players scored in double-figures as Wabash fended off a second-half Denison run to defeat the Big Red 75-63 on Saturday at Livingston Gymnasium.

The Little Giants got 10 first half points from Brian Maloney and led 37-29 at the break.  In the second half the Big Red started to heat up.  Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) knocked down a 3-pointer with 15:48 left to cut the lead to four at 42-38.  After a Wabash miss at the other end, Pat Sullivan (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) got the rebound and found Luther on the break for a lay-up, trimming the lead to two.  A Jim Leffew (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach)  jumper with 12:53 remaining got DU within one at 45-44 but that would trigger a Wabash run that would balloon to as much as 13 just under five minutes to play.

Wabash hurt the Big Red from outside thanks largely to Haltom's 4-of-5 performance from 3-point range.  The Little Giants were 3-for-5 from beyond the arc in the second half and the Big Red struggled from deep hitting 1-of-11 triples in the game.

Following Haltom was Maloney with 15 points and five rebounds.  Derek Bailey, Ben Burkett and Wes Smith, who battled foul trouble all game, each finished with 10 points for Wabash.

Denison was paced by sophomore Larry Farmer (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Twp.) who scored 17 points and pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds in 35 minutes of action.  He was 8-for-11 from the field and did most of his work in the paint where the Big Red managed to outscore their opponents 48-38.  It marked the second career double-double for Farmer and his first since last February's 23-point, 12 rebound game at Hiram.

Luther followed with 15 points and four assists in 33 minutes.  Junior Caleb McFerren (Zanesville, Ohio/Zanesville) chipped in 11 points while Sullivan added nine.

Denison shot 50 percent from the field (27-for-54) and the Little Giants were just a bit better at 55 percent (27-for-49).  The two teams were deadlocked with 30 rebounds each while Denison committed 15 turnovers compared to 11 for the visitors.

The loss means Denison will enter the 2009 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will travel to No. 1 seed, Wooster for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off on Tuesday (Feb. 24).  DU took the Fighting Scots to double-overtime on Feb. 11 before suffering a 102-92 loss from Timken Gym.  This is the first conference tournament appearance for the Big Red since the 2005-06 season and the fifth appearance in seven seasons under head coach Bob Ghiloni.

Notes: Prior to the game Denison said farewell to seniors Pat Sullivan and Jeremy Stuhlfauth who played their final home game this afternoon. Both will get a chance to keep the Big Red in the hunt for a conference tournament championship on Tuesday at Wooster.