A short-handed Wabash basketball team battled the Allegheny Gators all game long Saturday afternoon, only to come up three points short in a 72-69 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The Little Giants had a chance to send the game to overtime on the final play of the game, but a three-point attempt by freshman Aaron Brock came up empty.
The Little Giants were playing without leading scorer Andrew Zimmer, who suffered an eye injury last week against Lakeland College in the Franklin Tournament. Also missing from the lineup was starting center Ryan Stephens, out with a concussion suffered in practice earlier this week.
Wabash jumped out to an early six-point lead behind starters Brock and Andy Root. Root scored the first two points of the game from the free throw line, followed by two free throws and a layup by Brock. The Little Giants held that lead through the first seven minutes of the contest, taking a 13-7 lead.
The Gators came roaring back, going on a 9-0 run over the next 1:59 to take a three-point lead. Allegheny held that lead throughout the remainder of the half, taking advantage of 11 Wabash turnovers to hold a 39-33 halftime edge.
Brock would tie the game in the second half on a layup in the first two minutes of the second half, but the Gators went on another run --- this time a 20-9 advantage over th next eight minutes --- to claim a 55-44 edge on the scoreboard.
The Little Giants still trailed by 10 points with just over five minutes to go before making a final run of their own. Freshman Chase Haltom scored five of his game-high 23 points in the last five minutes, combining with Root and Brock to trim the lead to two points with 2:05 left in the contest. Wabash would get no closer, falling behind by four points before Brock's layup with 42 seconds made it a 71-69 contest. Wabash fouled Allegheny's Ryan Hollihan with seven seconds left, and had an opportunity for a win after he missed the first free throw. But Hollihan drilled the second charity toss to put the Gators up three. After a pair of Allegheny timeouts, the Little Giants heaved a final desperation shot toward the rim, but the miss sent Wabash to its second North Coast Athletic Conference loss of the season and a 4-8 mark overall.
Brock scored 20 points in addition to the 23 by Haltom. Root finished with 14. Jimmy Savage and Ben Torsney each had 10 points for Allegheny, while four other players each scored nine points.
Wabash (4-8, 1-2 NCAC) will play at Hiram College Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The game was originally schedule to be played Friday night, but a power outage on the Ohio school's campus forced the game to be moved to Sunday afternoon.
Photos - (top right) Aaron Brock fires the final shot of the game at the horn in an effort to send the game into overtime.
(bottom left) Andy Root drives for two of his 14 points.
Photos courtesy of the Allegheny Sports Information Office.