As hot as the Little Giant basketball team was all night Friday in the opening round of the Pete Thorn Invitational, they were as equally cold in Saturday's 75-60 loss to Olivet Nazarene in the championship game.
Wabash hit just seven shots in the first period, finishing 19-of-52 from the field for the contest. Less than 24 hours after the Little Giants tied the school record for three-point baskets in a game with 15 against UC-Clermont to advance to the championship game, they would hit only four against the Tigers in that title matchup (view photos from Saturday's championship game).
The Little Giants' first basket came almost six minutes into the first half when Gary Simkus drained a jumper to make it a 9-2 contest. ONU would quickly push its lead to 12 points, holding a 29-17 advantage at the break.
Things would progress no better for Wabash in the opening moments of the second half. The Tigers raced out to a 49-27 lead over the first seven minutes of the final period before Andrew Zimmer and Chase Haltom started the comeback effort for the Little Giants.
The pair scored 27 of the final 33 points for Wabash. The Little Giants cut the lead to nine points on a turn-around jumper by Zimmer with 5:48 left in the contest, then got it to seven points when freshman Rich Kavalauskas scored on a putback basket after a miss by Haltom.
But the Tigers seemed to have an answer for every offensive attempt by Wabash in the closing minutes. Tournament MVP Stan Chismark drilled a three-pointer with 4:20 left on the clock to push the ONU lead back up to 12 points. Chismark had 15 points to lead the Tigers in scoring, while teammate Tyler Wallenfang had 13 to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team.
Zimmer and Haltom also picked up All-Tournament hardware. Zimmer finished with 21 points to lead both teams, while Haltom chipped in 17.
Wabash (2-5) will be off for a week before traveling to Denison Saturday evening for a North Coast Athletic Conference contest.
Photo: Junior Gary Simkus' steal and slam dunk was one of the few highlights of the first half for the Little Giants. Wabash rallied from a 22-point deficit to close within seven points, but eventually lost to Olivet Nazarene in the championship game of the Pete Thorn Invitational.