LAS VEGAS  In the end, Whitman's 'want' was what saved it.

Despite painful shooting struggles from all over the floor and at the line, against the nation's best ball-control team, the Blues devoured a 15-point deficit over the final 11 minutes for a belief-defying, 92-90 victory over 14th-ranked Ohio Wesleyan in a fitting finale to the eighth annual D3hoops.com Classic on Saturday evening at South Point Arena.

"We've been down this road before," Whitman head coach Eric Bridgeland said. "But that's the thing about our guys. They never stop fighting.

"They were shooting the heck out of it and we couldn't make a shot," he added. "We stayed composed. We just stuck with it."

Stop by stop, steal by steal, block by block, board by board, bucket by improbable, carnivalesque bucket, Whitman preserved its undefeated record and extended its regular-season winning streak to 44.

The top-ranked Blues (11-0) outscored the Battling Bishops 28-13 to end the game.

They withstood Ohio Wesleyan's mad-bomber barrage by continuing to chase, trap, sprint, press, help and hustle -- and by trusting the law of averages. The Battling Bishops' 12-of-21 3-point explosion in the first half was mitigated by a 2-of-19 rate in the second.

They limited OW senior point guard and national Player of the Year candidate Nate Axelrod's playmaking options in the second half, when he had zero assists after dishing 11 in the first.

They kept moving the ball and trusting the isolation surgery of Tim Howell and Joey Hewitt, who atoned for sub-optimal first halves, respectively, with basket after basket on the break and in the paint to close it.

They received now-commonplace defensive superheroics from Austin Butler with the game on the line.

They shot just 36.8 percent from the field, a mere 38.5 percent from outside the arc, a rough 46.2 percent from the line -- and refused to let those misses have the final say, forcing 18 turnovers (Ohio Wesleyan came in averaging a Division III-low 6.9 per game) and inhaling 23 offensive rebounds.

"We stuck to our game plan and knew that percentages catch up," said Bridgeland. "We were challenging their shots. All you can do is challenge. If they keep hitting, you lose.

"In the second half, their (3-pointers) weren't going in, and we were able to get our break going. We got some easy baskets off their missed 3s."

Hewitt's 3-pointer with 3:24 left in the second half gave the Blues their first lead of the game, although Axelrod (24 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds, five turnovers) quickly made two free throws to put the Battling Bishops back up, 88-87, with 2:55 to go. Hewitt's 3-ball had capped a 23-9 run that began with 11:02 to play and included 10 points from Hewitt.

After a Whitman miss, Butler chased Axelrod across the timeline and poked the ball loose, leading to a turnover and Blues possession which Howell converted into a go-ahead, tear-drop shot in the paint. Butler's third blocked shot of the game snuffed Ohio Wesleyan's ensuing possession and led to another Howell basket, giving Whitman a 91-88 lead with 1:41 left.

The Battling Bishops missed two free throws with 1:03 left. The Blues turned the ball over (one of just eight giveaways all night) and surrendered a basket with seven seconds left, whittling their lead to one.

With 8.9 seconds left, Whitman missed the front end of a one-and-one. Ohio Wesleyan rebounded and called timeout.

The Blues forced a five-second violation on the inbounds.

Cedric Jacobs-Jones was fouled. He made the first of two free throws with 3.8 seconds left, the Battling Bishops rebounding the missed second and pushing up floor for a wayward 3 at the horn.

"Joey hit some shots. Tim hit some shots," Bridgeland said. "Darné Duckett and Ben Beatie changed the flow for us in the first half, and all of a sudden, we were within striking range."

The Battling Bishops hit 12 3-pointers in a sizzling first half, picking up where they left off in their school- and tournament record-breaking Classic debut victory over sixth-ranked Ramapo Thursday. Ohio Wesleyan, which made 25 3-pointers in that 98-69 win, hit 57 percent of its first-half 3s on Saturday and was 21 of 38 (55 percent) from the floor, overall.

Whitman's shooting misery continued, but the Blues forced 10 turnovers and snagged 13 offensive rebounds, earning enough extra possessions to stay lurking.

Hewitt and Howell combined to score 18 first-half points, but needed 21 shots to do it. Whitman shot 35.3 percent from the field (18 of 51), 30.8 percent on 3-pointers (4 of 13) and missed more free throws (seven) than it made (six).

Jack Stewart and Hewitt made 3-pointers in the first 50 seconds of the second half to pull Whitman within five points, 57-52, but Ohio Wesleyan answered with a 16-7 run that opened a 14-point lead with 13:19 to play. The lead was 13 when Nick Heidel (22 points) made a layin at the 11:30 mark.

Hewitt finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and five steals. He was named the Classic's Most Outstanding Player. Howell had 21 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Duckett had 10 points and eight rebounds. Cedric Jacobs-Jones chipped in 11 points and blocked a shot. Stewart had team-highs in assists (three) and rebounds (10).

Whitman, which was completing the last leg of a five-game road trip, returns to Sherwood Center – and to its Northwest Conference title defense – when it hosts Pacific at 8 p.m. on Jan. 5.

Notes: Hewitt was joined on the all-tournament team by Axelrod, Thomas Bonacum of Ramapo, M.J. Delmore of UW-Stevens Point, Pacific Lutheran's Markus Glenn, Wartburg's Jaran Sabus, Kyle Smith of Central, Harry Sonie of Augsburg and Carroll's Tanner Zaeske … Pacific opened the season with an eight-game winning streak before losing three in a row … The Boxers and Whitman each defeated Redlands and La Verne, their only two common opponents, earlier this season … Pacific's last two losses (to Principia and Elmhurst) were both by three points … Whitman's last regular-season loss came against Pacific Lutheran on Jan. 23, 2016. Its last regular-season non-conference loss was Dec. 29, 2015 against Tufts.