A running three-pointer just ahead of the buzzer by junior guard Adonis Joseph (Mishawaka, IN/Mishawaka) gave Wabash a 70-67 victory over Allegheny College in North Coast Athletic Conference basketball Saturday afternoon.
The Gators’ tied the game at 67-67 with an off-balance trey by Justin Schmitt with four seconds left in the contest. Joseph took the inbound pass, drove the length of the floor and hoisted the final shot of the game, keeping the Little Giants perfect in NCAC play at 4-0 while being mobbed by his teammates in front of the Wabash bench.
While Joseph earned the final heroics, it was the play of Caleb Lyttle (Sullivan, IN/Sulllivan) on the offensive end down the stretch that allowed the Little Giants to erase a 13-point deficit and overcome 24 turnovers. Lyttle tied his career high in points, finishing with 14. Joseph led Wabash in scoring with 16 points.
Wabash jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but saw that disappear quickly. The Gators rallied to move in front 10-9, setting up a battle for the rest of the afternoon. The Little Giants took advantage of the shots the got in the first half, hitting 57 percent (12-of-21) from the field. But 11 turnovers kept Wabash from making any kind of continuity on the offensive end of the floor.
Trailing 32-30 at the break, Medeiros evened the score with a jumper in the lane to start the second half. It would be the only basket the Little Giants would score over the next three minutes before Medeiros found a wide-open Kyle Coffey (Greenwood, IN/Center Grove) under the basket to end the drought. That scoring drought was all the Gators needed to extend their lead to 47-34 with 13 minutes left in the contest.
Back-to-back putbacks by Lyttle cut the lead to seven. Wabash would draw within five points midway through the final period.
The lead would bounce back and forth between three and five points before a layup by Lyttle with 4:45 trimmed the Allegheny lead to one point. But Wabash turned the basketball over on the next two trips down the floor, failing to take advantage of the chance to grab the lead. Two free throws by Adonis Joseph (Mishawaka, IN/Mishawaka) put the Little Giants up five.
Lyttle continued to be the best offensive choice for Wabash down the stretch, tying the score at 58-58 with a layup with just under three minutes left in the game. A steal by Lyttle at the other end of the floor and three-point play by Gary Simkus (Highland, IN/Highland) final gave the Wabash the elusive lead at 61-58 with just over two minutes left in the contest.
Allegheny cut the lead to three points with 1:19 remaining, then trimmed to one point with just 50 seconds left on a driving layup by Bill Babe after a missed three-pointer by the Little Giants. Medeiros drained a driving jumper to put Wabash up 67-64, setting up the final two plays of the game.
Wabash, now 7-6 on the season and 4-0 in NCAC play, returns to action Wednesday night at Wittenberg. The tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the HPER Center in Springfield, Ohio.