A blistering second half by the Earlham offense brought the 2005-2006 basketball season to an end for Wabash Tuesday evening. The Little Giants lost 78-69 to the Quakers in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
The Little Giants shot 58 percent from the field in the final period, connecting on 18-of-31 shots. Normally hitting over half the shots taken would be good enough to win. The Quakers answered with a 16-for-23 shooting effort for just under 70 percent to earn a place in the tournament semifinals Friday night against regular season league champion Wooster. Earlham finished the second half with a total of 54 points, while Wabash tallied 45 in the final period. (Click here to view a photo album from the final game of the season.)
Wabash took an early 3-0 lead on a Michael Woods three-pointer. A missed shot at the other end of the floor led to one of the toughest plays of the season for the Little Giants. Senior guard Kyle Medeiros took the outlet pass and raced toward the basket, colliding with an Earlham defender. Medeiros dropped to the floor and grabbed his right knee while the Quakers took the missed shot and converted the break for their first points. Medeiros hobbled off the floor, trying to return a few minutes later before the knee buckled again, sending the senior to the bench for the last time in his Wabash career.
Another Kyle picked up the scoring effort with the Little Giants' leading scorer gone for the rest of the game. Center Kyle Coffey (right) scored the next seven points for Wabash, giving the team a six-point edge. Earlham took advantage of a Wabash offense that went cold over the final four minutes of the first half, drawing even on four free throws in the final 1:39 to head to the locker room tied at 24-24.
The hot shooting started for the Quakers just over a minute into the second period of play. LaRon Henry broke through the Wabash defense and scored on a layup to tie the game after Coffey scored the first points of the second half on a layup of his own. Earlham went on a 15-3 run over the next four minutes, sparked by a three-pointer by Markous Jewett and two dunks by Brandon Miller.
Down 43-33, the Little Giants clawed back into the contest. Wabash kept firing the ball inside to sophomore Andrew Zimmer (left), who answered time and time again. He scored a career-best 26 points, hitting 10-of-14 shots in the game.
But the Quakers had an answer for every Zimmer basket. And most of the time it came in the form of points from Jewett. The junior poured in 23 points in the contest, including 19 in the second half. Wabash would tie the score at 55-55 with 7:24 left in the game, only to watch the Quakers take another seven-point lead. The Little Giants would get as close as four points, but Earlham converted every free throw attempt as Wabash was forced to foul in the final minute to earn the win and a trip to Wooster Friday night.
Coffey ended his career with a 13-point effort, along with seven rebounds. He, and fellow seniors Medeiros, Woods, Adonis Joseph, Caleb Lyttle, and Jimmy Owens, finished the final season of their college careers with a a record of 16-10.