Wabash erased a 17-point second half lead by Wittenberg in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, but two free throws awarded to the Tigers with seven seconds left in the game sent the Little Giants to a 61-60 defeat in Wooster, Ohio Friday evening.
Wabash trailed 32-17 at halftime before Mark Snyder opened the final period with a baseline jumper to put Wittenberg up 17 points. The Little Giants began chipping away, outscoring Witt 10-0 over a span of four minutes.
Senior Chase Haltom began to heat up from outside in the closing minutes of what would prove to be his final game. His three-pointer with 10:27 left in the contest drew Wabash to within two points at 40-42. Less than 15 seconds later, Haltom
(left) converted Dominique Thomas’ steal into a layup to complete the comeback and tie the game at 42-42.
The Tigers answered with one more run, regaining a seven-point edge with left in the contest. Another trey from Haltom trimmed the lead to 57-53. After two free throws by Wes Smith brought the Little Giants back to within two, Haltom rocked Timken Gymnasium with his fourth three-pointer of the contest with 2:26 remaining to give Wabash a 58-57 lead.
Clayton Black responded with a basket for the Tigers before the two teams traded turnovers with less than two minutes left in the contest. Twice Wabash had what appeared to be open shots to take the lead in the closing minute.
Wabash finally appeared to draw even once again when Aaron Brock connected on the first free throw of a one-and-bonus situation. However, after a conference by the officials, Brock was removed from the free throw line and the point taken off the scoreboard. Ben Burkett went to the line instead and calmly drilled both shots to give the Little Giants a 60-59 advantage with 45 seconds remaining.
The Little Giants had another opportunity to put the game away with a late steal but could not turn it into any points, giving the basketball back to Wittenberg with 30 seconds left. After a timeout, the Tigers worked for an inside shot from Michael Cooper, but his attempt hit off the back of the iron. Haltom snared the loose ball rebound, but was forced out of bounds by the Tiger defenders, giving the ball back to Wittenberg with eight seconds left to play.
Snyder triggered the inbound pass, looking to several different options before getting the ball to Chris Sullivan. A quick foul by the Little Giants set up another inbound play for Wittenberg. This time a hold was called on Wes Smith before the Tigers could run their play, sending David Hieber to the line. The 73-percent free throw shooter drilled two attempts to put Wittenberg back in front with seven seconds to play.
After a Wabash timeout at midcourt with five seconds left, Haltom found Brock (right) under the basket for the game-winning attempt. Two Tigers collapsed in on Brock to defend the shot, with Lewis Buzzard coming up with a block on the play to end the contest.
After hitting just seven shots in the first half, the Little Giants connected on 15-of-30 attempts from the field in the final period to shoot 39.3 percent for the game. The Tigers were red-hot from the field in the opening period, hitting 12-of-25 overall and 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. Wabash’s defense cooled Wittenberg to 2-of-12 from long range and 11-of-32 in the final period to assist in the comeback effort.
Haltom led all scorers with 16 points. Smith had 15 and Brock finished his career with 12 points in his final collegiate game. Sullivan and Josh McKee each had nine points to lead the Tigers (21-6) in scoring.
The win by Wittenberg snapped a three-game winning streak against the Tigers by Wabash. It also ended a two-year run of trips to the NCAC championship game for the Little Giants.
Wabash ends its season with a record of 18-8 after finishing second in the final NCAC standings with a league mark of 12-4.
