Three-point attempts by Aaron Brock and Chase Haltom in the final 30 seconds of Wabash's basketball game against Wooster Saturday afternoon. Neither of the shots would fall, sending the Little Giants to a 68-63 defeat at the hands of the Fighting Scots at Chadwick Court.
Wabash led 61-60 on a Haltom three-pointer with 3:12 left in the contest. That lead was short-lived when Marty Bidwell hit his own three and was fouled, picking up the free throw for a four-point play and a 64-61 lead for the Scots. Andrew Zimmer cut the lead to one point with two free throws with 1:52 showing on the clock before Evan Will scored inside to put Wooster up three.
After misses by both teams, a steal by Zimmer gave the Little Giants the basketball with 30 seconds left in the contest. Brock launched his long-range shot but missed. A foul on the rebound sent Will to the free throw line at the other end of the floor for Wooster. But he missed his attempt and the ball ended up in the hands of Wabash. Haltom fired his three-point shot with 10 seconds left, then scrambled after the rebound after the miss. He grabbed the ball heading out of bounds and called timeout.
But the Little Giants had already used their allotment of timeouts in the game, leading to a technical foul. Devin Fulk hit both free throw attempts to pick up the 20th win of the season for the Scots and their 13th in North Coast Athletic Conference play.
Wabash jumped out to a 6-0 lead and eventually lead by as many as 10 points midway through the first half. The Scots responded with a 25-10 run over the next eight minutes to claim a five-point lead before settling for a 38-36 halftime lead.
The Little Giants would trail by as many as seven points in the second half before rallying to take the lead on Haltom's three with 3:12 left in the game.
Zimmer led the Little Giants with 25 points and eight rebounds. He also had three of Wabash's six steals. Haltom added 12 points coming off the bench, while Andy Root finished with 10. Tom Port led Wooster with 23 points. James Cooper had 17, and Bidwell tossed in 14.
Wabash (9-14, 6-8) will travel to Wittenberg University Wednesday evening for an 8 p.m. tipoff before concluding the regular season on Saturday with a 3 p.m. contest against Kenyon.