Once again, the Little Giants came up just two points short against a conference powerhouse in Crawfordsville. Wabash lost to Wittenberg last night, 54-54, in a valiant effort.
The story of the night was cold shooting. Wabash took twelve more shots than did the Tigers, but hit one less. The story was certainly no better beyond the arc. The Little Giants only connected on five of eighteen threes, while Wittenberg hit eleven of seventeen.
Wabash led for much of the first half before hitting a scoring drought just as the Tigers were heating up and went into the locker room down eight. The opening of the second half looked much like a continuation of this, as Wittenberg would build the lead to as many as fifteen to start the second half.
After Coach Mac Petty called a timeout with about fourteen minutes to go, things started to turn around, albeit slowly, for the Little Giants. The defense picked back up, the ball started to fall again, and with just under five minutes to go in the game, Wabash would tie the game at forty-seven.
The game would continue to be just as hard fought, and the game was once again tied at fifty-two after two Gary Simkus free throws with under a minute to go. After a fairly long Wittenberg possession, Andrew Zimmer was whistled for a questionable foul, and Wittenberg’s Sam Gregory.
Wabash would turn the ball over on their next possession, but would get the ball back and Chase Haltom would take a good shot that wouldn’t fall, and Wittenberg grabbed the rebound. Wabash would put Gregory on the line again, and he would help by missing the front end of a one-and-one, and Wabash would get a time out with six-tenths of a second left on the clock. Wabash tried the full-court inbound pass to take a last try for at least overtime, but the pass landed in Tiger arms, and the final horn blew.
Wabash will be back in action this Saturday at three o’clock against Kenyon to try to avenge a one-point loss to start the conference season. Get and support your Little Giants to cheer them into the conference tournament.