ATLANTA - No. 21 Berry saw its season come to an end in the first round of the NCAA D-III Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament against No. 15 Wabash, 91-79, Friday evening on the campus of Emory University.

Sophomore Chase Ellis led the team in scoring with 24 points, also adding three rebounds and three assists. Senior Austin Brooks followed with 17 points and also leading the team in boards with seven.

Brooks got the Vikings off to a great start, going 2-for-2 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line to put Berry (23-3) up early 12-5.

For the remainder of the period, Wabash's offense got hot with Jack Davidson scoring 21 points by the end of the half. Tyler Watson followed Davidson up with 12 points of his own. The Vikings got into foul trouble early in the game, with Berry recording 11 in the first 13 minutes.

Coming out of the locker room, the Vikings continued to fight and made the Little Giants work. While Wabash built a double-digit lead, the Vikings pulled within one point at 62-61 midway through the second half, before Wabash took advantage of Berry's foul trouble to get better match-ups on the court for their side.

Berry head coach Trevor Lydic thinks his team executed the game plan going into the game, which consisted of stopping perimeter plays. Even then, he acknowledges the Vikings gave up too many points to Davidson and Watson. "I was hoping we could slow them down a little bit," Lydic said. "I don't think 34 and 29, respectively, for Davidson and Watson was not quite slowing them down. But, we knew they were going to get theirs and we were going to try and stop everyone else and for the most part we did."

After his season-best performance, Ellis gave credit to his seniors and teammates.

"I just went out there and I just tried to play the best I possibly can," "I take that approach to every game. The only thing I'm focused on is winning and winning for my seniors … I'm proud of everybody on the team and I feel like everyone fought hard."

The Vikings end the season with a school record for wins in the D-III era with 23 and as Southern Athletic Association regular season and tournament champions.