Andrew Gilman silenced the Hiram crowd Tuesday night with a three-point shot to end a scoring run by the Terriers while helping Wabash to an 83-75 win in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament. Chase Haltom scored 25 points while Wes Smith added 21 in the win.
The Terriers used full court pressure to erase a 12-point Little Giant lead in the second half, cutting the advantage to eight points with 3:32 left to play in the game. After the pressure by the Terriers forced another Wabash turnover, one of 16 in the contest, Hiram’s Andrew Wiegand hit a three-pointer to bring the score to 70-65. Wabash found Gilman open on the left side on its next trip down the floor. The sophomore drained a long-range jumper to stretch the advantage back to eight points and putting the Hiram fans back in their seats. The remainder of the game became a free throw shooting contest for the Little Giants. Wabash hit seven of its final eight charity tosses to lead to the eight-point win.
The Little Giants jumped out to an early six-point lead before Hiram rallied to eventually take a three-point lead with 3:19 left in the opening period. Gilman connected on a three-pointer in the first half to tie the game at 26-26 with 3:02 showing on the clock. Ben Burkett scored four straight points toward the end of the half to give Wabash a four-point lead with time winding down. Hiram’s Jason Hebeisen answered with a basket with seven seconds left in the half, giving Wabash one final shot. Haltom took advantage of the opportunity, driving toward midcourt and launching a three just ahead of the buzzer that scored to give the Little Giants a 38-34 halftime edge.
Haltom was hot from the outside, hitting six three-pointers in the game. The Little Giants shot 53 percent from the field (28-of-52) and were even better from long range at 56.3 percent (9-of-16).
Smith played 38 minutes of stellar defense. He held Chris Roberts, Hiram’s leading scorer coming into the game, to 11 points before leaving the floor in the final minutes. Roberts added a late three after the game was decided to finish with 14. Smith also added solid offense in the second half, scoring 13 points in the final period. He also had five assists, a blocked shot, and two steals.
Senior Ian Pfouts led the Terriers with 19 points. Hiram shot 37.3 percent from the field, hitting just 11-of-36 attempts in the second half for 30.6 percent.
Wabash (13-12) will play Allegheny in the first semifinal game Friday night in Wooster, Ohio. The Gators defeated second-seeded Ohio Wesleyan 78-75 in overtime. Wooster will face Kenyon in the second game Friday evening with the winners advancing to the tournament championship game Saturday evening.