CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - February 22, 2022 – Hiram men's basketball heads to Wabash as the No. 8 seed for the 2022 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men's Basketball Tournament following the conclusion of the regular season on Feb. 19 that featured an 82-67 win on Senior Day over Oberlin.
 
Hiram, in their second season under Head Coach Taylor Roth, finished the regular season with a 9-16 (6-12 NCAC) record.

"I am excited for our group that they've earned the opportunity to play in the postseason," Head Coach Taylor Roth said. "It has been an up and down year, but we've gotten better each week and I'm proud of the huge progress they've made."

In non-conference play, Hiram won the Gettysburg Tip-Off Tournament with wins over Penn State Abington and Gettysburg. The team also picked up wins at Pitt-Bradford and collected two wins vs. Oberlin.

A three-game winning streak inside Price Gymnasium that featured wins over Allegheny, Wooster and Denison highlighted NCAC play, with their win over the Fighting Scots coming on a Kevin Beans Jr. buzzer-beating jump shot with a final score of 83-81.

Senior Brodgie Gordon and junior Kevin Beans Jr. have helped lead the scoring for the Terriers this season. Gordon averaged 14.2 points along with 3.9 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game, while Beans Jr. averages 13.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

Gordon's assists per game number put him fifth in the conference, and the DeLand, Fla. native also leads the team with 1.4 steals per game.

As a team, Hiram averaged 71.6 points per game on 42.6% shooting from the floor and 33.0% from three-point range. The Terriers shot 67.7% from the free-throw line.

In the frontcourt, senior Oliver Clingain averaged 8.6 points per game while bringing down a team-leading 7.5 rebounds per game, good for second-best in the conference. 

Among the guards, sophomore Doug Sartain has been the team's leading three-point shooter at 36.7 percent. Additionally, the sophomore averages 7.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Spencer Willman and Chance Wells have also been contributors in the Hiram backcourt. Willman, a freshman, has averaged 6.3 points per game with 2.5 rebounds per game. Wells, a sophomore, put up 4.3 points per game on 35.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Senior frontcourt members Texan Moulton and Sherman Cox have also seen significant minutes this season, along with freshman Michael Ewart and Ivan Yang.

The Terriers will face the Little Giants for the third time this season, having dropped their first two matchups. Wabash, the No. 1 seed in the NCAC Tournament, finished the regular season with a 21-3 record with the team currently on a 17-game winning streak.

"Wabash is a very talented team who have had a great season," Roth said. "They're well-coached and they have experience. It's going to be a challenge, but our guys will be ready."

Wabash leads the conference in scoring, averaging 90.4 points per game along with a conference-best 51.9 percent field goal percentage, 40.5 percent three-point percentage and 81.3% free throw percentage.

Jack Davidson leads Wabash, and the conference, in scoring at 24.3 points per game. Teammates Tyler Watson at 16.7 and Kellen Schreiber at 15.1 are also in the top ten in points per game in the conference.

Defensively, the Little Giants allow 77.1 points per game, a 44.8 field goal percentage and 33.5 percent from three-point range.

Should Hiram beat Wabash, they will play the winner of No. 4 Wittenberg and No. 5 Denison on Friday, Feb. 25 with a tip-off time to be announced.