A late rally by the Wabash basketball team proved to be too little too late in a 78-72 loss by the Little Giants to Denison University Saturday evening at Chadwick Court.
The rare Saturday evening tipoff at Wabash proved to be rarer still with the Big Red picking up their first North Coast Athletic Conference victory of the season and first win ever against the Little Giants in Crawfordsville.
Wabash squandered opportunities at the free throw line, missing ten charity tosses while Denison capitalized in nearly every trip. The Big Red were 25-of-29, hitting 18 straight attempts before a miss 47 seconds left in the contest. Wabash was 16-of-26 and could draw to within two points late after trailing by as many as 13 to Denison in the contest.
Chase Haltom fired two huge three-point shots home in the final minute. His trey from the top of the key with 29 seconds left put the Big Red up 72-69. Two free throws stretched the Big Red's lead to five points before another three --- this time by junior Aaron Brock --- cut the lead to two points. Out of timeouts, the Little Giants were forced to foul Denison in the final seconds of the contest. Chris Luther calmly sank four free throws in two trips to the line over the last eight seconds of the game to give Denison its first league NCAC win this year.
The Little Giants took an early 4-0 lead on baskets by Wes Smith and Brian Maloney. The Little Giants' inside game appeared to be too much for Denison early in the game. The Big Red adjusted to keep Wabash from scoring inside while finding their stroke from the field, shooting 25-of-49 from the field for the game. Wabash hit on 24-of-48 attempts, but could not keep Denison from erasing the four-point lead built by the Little Giants. Denison took a 15-13 lead eight minutes into the first half and never trailed again in the game to improve to 4-13 for the season to go with its 1-7 NCAC mark.
Wabash was led by the 23-point effort of Brock in addition to 12 points from Smith and Maloney. Freshman Mike Garabedian scored a game-high 26 in his second start of the year to lead the Big Red offensively.
The Little Giants (8-8, 3-5 NCAC) travel to Wittenberg University Wednesday evening.