The Wabash College basketball team outscored Kalamazoo 44-31 in the second half after trailing by one at halftime, giving the Little Giants an 81-69 victory in the opening game of the Little Giant Tipoff Classic on Friday night.
The Little Giants trailed 38-37 at the half despite a 13-point effort by senior Zeljko Gavranovic (Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina/St. Mary’s), who finished the game as the leading scorer with a career-high 17 points. But Wabash tied the game at 50-50 with 14:06 left in the game after the Hornets had jumped out to a five-point lead. Wabash went up by four on baskets by Caleb Lyttle (Sullivan, IN/Sullivan) and Gavranovic, then saw its lead move to six when sophomore Kyle Medeiros (Indianapolis, IN/Ben Davis) grabbed one of his three steals in the game and scored on the fast break layup to make it a 58-52 lead in favor of the Little Giants.
Wabash put the game out of reach with three minutes left on a three-pointer by Matt Storm (Anderson, IN/Lapel) to take a 13-point lead.
Two Little Giants joined Gavranovic as double-figure scorers in the opening game of the season as Storm had 14 points and Medeiros finished the game with 12 points. The Little Giant defense stepped it up in the second half, forcing 12 of Kalamazoo’s 23 turnovers while limiting the Hornets to only 10 field goals in the final period.
Wabash plays Olivet Nazarene in the championship game at 4 p.m. on Saturday. ONU defeated Olivet College in the second game on Friday 76-75 in overtime.