The Wabash basketball team final found some hospitality on the road on Wednesday night. The Little Giants ended a five-game road and two-game North Coast Athletic Conference losing streak with a 70-66 win at in-state rival Earlham College.
The Little Giants bench did much of the damage, outscoring the Earlham reserves 36-5, including an 18-0 advantage in the second half.
Wabash trailed by as many as seven points early in the contest before taking a one-point lead at the 13-minute mark.The Quakers went back in front by six before the Little Gaints cut the lead to two points at 23-21. Earlham answered with five straight points before a basket by Kyle Medeiros (Indianapolis, IN/Ben Davis). But another Quaker run helped Earlham take a 33-27 lead at halftime.
Wabash had seven straight shots, including three offensive rebounds and second chance attempts, but couldn’t find the bottom of the basket. Earlham had no such problem at the other end of the floor, outscoring the Little Giants 5-0 to start the second half while taking its largest lead of the game at 11 points.
The Little Giants started on a run of their own. Sophomore center Kyle Coffey (Greenwood, IN/Center Grove) (left) scored 11 straight points to trim the Earlham lead to two points. A rebound and reverse layup by sophomore George Colakovic (Munster, IN/Munster) (right) brought the Little Giants even with the Quakers at 47-47. A basket by Zeljko Gavranovic (Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina/St. Mary’s, AZ) with just over eight minutes left in the contest gave the Little Giants their first lead since the first half.
Two minutes later, senior Matt Storm (Anderson, IN/Lapel) gave Wabash its biggest lead of the game, drilling a trey from the left wing for a three-point Little Giant advantage. Wabash clung to its lead until the closing minutes of the game, answering each Earlham basket with one of its own.
Leading 62-58 with two minutes left in the contest, the Little Giants stretched its advantage to seven when Coffey connected on a free throw, then nailed a jumper when the Little Giants snagged the rebound on the missed second charity toss. But Earlham stormed back to make it a three-point game with 16 ticks left on the game clock. Sophomore guard Adonis Joseph (Mishawaka, IN/Mishawaka) nailed three of his final four free throws down the stretch to give the Little Giants the victory.
Coffey led Wabash in scoring with a career-best 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. Storm overcame a tough night from the floor, hitting only 4-of-12 shots but reaching double figures with 13 points. The Little Giants dished out 14 assists, led by Joseph and Colakovic each tallying four assists. Wabash forced 21 Earlham turnovers while committing only 10 in the contest.
The victory moves Wabash to 7-9 for the season, 5-2 in the NCAC. The Little Giants will travel to Wooster for a 2 p.m. contest on Saturday afternoon.