Wabash showed some early-season jitters Tuesday night, falling behind by 17 points to Marian University before closing the gap in the second half. The Little Giants lost their season-opening basketball game to the Knights 68-65 in Indianapolis.
The Little Giants committed 12 turnovers and shot 9-of-28 in the first 20 minutes against Marian to eventually trail 34-17 with 3:10 left in the opening period. Junior Wes Smith scored six of the final eight points for Wabash, joined by a Derek Bailey layup to trim the advantage to 38-25 in favor of the Knights at halftime.
Smith (left) more than doubled his first half scoring effort over the final 20 minutes while the rest of the Little Giants began to settle into the flow of the game. Aaron Brock poured in 12 second-half points after scoring just three points in the first period, bringing Wabash to within six points with 2:27 left to play on his only three-pointer of the contest. A steal and layup by Brian Shelbourne on the ensuing play made it a 63-59 contest.
The Little Giants fouled with 1:45 remaining, but Matt Allee missed the front end of the one-and-one attempt, giving the ball back to Wabash when Brock snared one of his 12 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season. Another turnover denied the Little Giants a chance to draw even closer before Alex Sylvester nailed a jumper with 1:14 left to push the lead back up to six points.
Brock scored again on the next possession with 42 seconds remaining in the four-point game. The Knights hit one-of-two free throws after a quick Wabash foul, but the 19th turnover of the ball game all but ended the hopes of the Little Giants. Smith scored on a layup with 12 seconds left to get to 67-63. Marian again connected on one of its final two free throws before Chase Haltom closed out the game with an offensive putback basket ahead of the horn.
Smith led both teams with 28 points on 11-of-22 shooting. He narrowly missed a double-double, adding nine rebounds with four offensive carroms. Brock was 5-of-14 for the contest, but hit 4-of-9 shots in the final period. Wabash finished the game shooting 22-of-62 and just 5-of-22 from beyond the three-point arc.
Marian (2-1) was paced by the 20-point effort of Sylvester.
The Little Giants (0-1) return to action this weekend in the Maryville Alumni Classic in Tennessee.