The Wabash College basketball team got off to a great start but couldn’t continue its momentum in a 68-45 loss to the seventh-ranked College of Wooster Fighting Scots on Saturday afternoon at Chadwick Court.
The Little Giant defense held Wooster to only one three-point basket in the contest and to no baskets of any kind in the first four minutes of the game. Wabash couldn’t capitalize on the offensive end of the floor in the second half, however, hitting just five baskets in the period after trailing by ten points at halftime. The Scots outscored Wabash 35-22 in the second half to pull away for their 18th victory of the season.
Wabash took an early 5-0 lead, pounding the basketball inside to sophomore Kyle Coffey (Greenwood, IN/Center Grove) for the first basket of the game, followed by a three-pointer by senior Matt Storm (Anderson, IN/Lapel) to put the Little Giants up 5-0 at the 16:58 mark. The Scots drew even just over a minute later before Wabash took another lead, this time a 10-9 advantage with 14:15 showing on the first half game clock. But a layup by Jeff Stevens put the Scots in front for the first time in the game. Wooster would push its advantage to as many as six points before a jumper by junior Nate Bell (Ft. Wayne, IN/Concordia Lutheran) trimmed the advantage to two points.
Wabash would get no closer. Wooster stretched its lead to 10 points with 2:45 left in the opening stanza, and took that same lead to the locker room at the break.
The Little Giants had used their defense to hold Wooster to only 11 baskets and 33 points in the first half, despite the Scots coming into the game as the top scoring team in the North Coast Athletic Conference with a 77.9 points-per-game average.
But while the Little Giants got 29 shots off in the second half to try and cut into the Wooster lead, only five of those attempts would fall. The Scots took advantage of the Wabash shooting woes, racing out to a 17-point lead with just seven minutes gone in the second half before eventually taking the 23-point lead late in the contest.
Wabash failed to have a scorer reach double figures for the second consecutive game. Coffey and Storm each led the Little Giants with nine points. Bell tossed in seven points coming off the bench for Wabash.
The loss puts Wabash at 8-13 for the season and 6-6 in the NCAC. The Little Giants will try to reverse their fortunes on Wednesday when Wabash travels to Ohio Wesleyan for a 7:30 p.m. conference tilt.