The Little Giants trailed by four at halftime, but held the Knights to 19 second-half points to win their sixth Pete Thorn title. Marian hit only 8-of-23 shots in the second half, battling against a stingy Wabash defense.
The Wabash bench outscored Marian 22-10, including a season-high 10 points from reserve center and tournament MVP Eric Buck (Indianapolis, IN/Cardinal Ritter). Buck finished the game with five rebounds, two blocked shots, and a steal in addition to his double-figure scoring.
It took some big plays for the Little Giants to erase a six-point second half lead by the Knights. Working the score down to 43-42, senior Ryan Short (Indianapolis, IN/Perry Meridian) scored on a jumper and hit a free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play to give Wabash a two-point lead. After a missed three by Marian, Buck scored on a scoop shot in the lane to give the Little Giants a four-point advantage. Starting center Jesse Burgess (Camby, IN/Mooresville) answered a Knight's basket to keep the lead at four, setting up another Wabash run.
After another basket by Marian made it 49-47 in favor of the Little Giants, Wabash made its final run of the game.
Sophomore guard David Wagner (Belleville, IL/Belleville) took a kickout pass from senior Kip Chase (Bedford, IN/Bedford North Lawrence) to hit a three-pointer as he was fouled. Wagner drained the free throw to connect on the four-point play to give Wabash a 53-47 advantage. The Knights tried to answer, but senior forward Joe DesJean (Indianapolis, IN/Perry Meridian) swatted the shot attempt away to Wagner. The sophomore drew the defense to him, then flipped a pass out to senior guard Brady Claxton (Shelbyville, IN/Shelbyville), who canned a three-pointer to increase the lead to nine points. Two more free throws by Wagner just two minutes later made it an 11-point advantage for Wabash.
The Knights hit a basket with 6:47 left that cut the lead to single digits before Wabash responded with what might have been the biggest offensive play of the game. With the shot clock running down, the Knights chased Claxton around the perimeter. Claxton passed the basketball to Short with two second left on the shot clock, who then drained a three-point shot from the left corner to ice the game away for Wabash. It would be the last basket the Little Giants would hit, but Wabash connected on 6-of-8 free throws in the final six minutes of the game while holding Marian to only three points in the final minutes.
Claxton led the team with 13 points and five assists. DesJean had nine points and 10 rebounds. Burgess and Wagner each added eight points, while Pleas Ferguson (Indianapolis, IN/Arsenal Tech) added seven points in a balanced scoring attack for Wabash. Short also added seven points to the mix. Brad Metzger scored 11 points to lead Marian. Zach Robbins and Tim Adams each scored 10 points.
DesJean and Ferguson joined Buck on the All-Tournament team, along with Adams from Marian. Kalamazoo College defeated Averett 102-70 in the consolation game. Nathan Burns scored 16 points for Kalamazoo to earn a spot on the All-Tourney team. Averett's Jake Vereen had 20 points to join the All-Tourney squad, as well.
Wabash moves to 7-2 with the win. The Little Giants will take the rest of the holiday season off before returning to action on Friday, January 3 for a North Coast Athletic Conference game at Hiram College at 8:15 p.m.