A red-hot second half of shooting became the difference between the Wabash basketball team’s season continuing or ending on Thursday night. Unfortunately for the Little Giants, the Wittenberg Tigers doing the scoring, hitting 67-percent from the field in the second period on the way to a 71-54 victory over Wabash in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The victory by Wittenberg sends the Tigers up against the Fighting Scots of Wooster in the championship game of the tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Danny Brywczynski gave the Tigers an early 3-0 lead, but back-to-back treys by Matt Storm (Anderson, IN/Lapel) put the Little Giants in front 6-3. Wabash went from the outside to the inside, picking up layups from Alex Rinks (Indianapolis, IN/Beech Grove) and Zeljko Gavranovic (Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina/St. Mary’s, AZ) to move in front 12-7.
A line change by the Little Giants brough a fresh five on the floor and maintained the lead, answering the only Wittenberg three-pointer during a four minute run with a fast break jumper by Ronnie Ragains (Fredricksburg, IN/West Washington) to keep a 14-10 advantage.
Both defenses produced a four minute scoring drought that ended with a Gavranovic hook shot from the right side to give Wabash a six-point advantage. But another three by Brywczynski cut it to 16-13 with less than nine minutes left in the opening period. Another trey by Brywczynski just two minutes later knotted the game at 16-16. Wittenberg picked up four straight free throws on its next two trips down the floor to move in front 20-16.
The Little Giants could not keep the Tigers off the offensive glass in the first half. Wittenberg gathered seven offensive boards as part of its 21 rebounds in the opening period. Wittenberg finished the game with 36 rebounds to only 22 for Wabash. The Little Giants snared 13 offensive rebounds for nine second chance points, while Wittenberg converted 12 offensive boards into 11 putback points.
Wabash was as cold from the field at the start of the second half as it was hot in the first half. The Little Giants missed their first two shots from the field, finishing the half 14-of-34 from the field, while the Tigers connected on back-to-back shots to move in front by 15. Wittenberg continued to light up the scoreboard in the second half, connecting on 14-of-21 shots for 66.7-percent. Wabash cut the lead to seven with 15 minutes left on a jumper by Storm, but it would be as close as the Little Giants would get. The Tigers outscored Wabash 13-4 over the next five minutes to put the game out of reach.
The Tigers also enjoyed a huge advantage at the free throw line. Wittenberg connected on 18-of-22 charity toss, while Wabash only attempted 10 free throws on eight Tiger fouls in the game. The Little Giants only converted on half of those attempts, finishing 5-of-10 from the stripe.
Storm scored 22 points in his final collegiate basketball game. The senior guard scored a total of 601 points in just over two seasons in a Wabash uniform after missing all of his sophomore season and part of his junior year to knee injuries. Gavranovic scored 6 points in his final game as a Little Giant.
Wabash finished the season 12-15 for the season.