Wabash cut a 22-point second-half deficit down to six points with 3:35 left to play but could not get over the top in a 68-60 home loss to the second-ranked Washington University in St. Louis Bears on Saturday afternoon at Chadwick Court.
Wabash (7-5) trailed WashU (10-1) 36-29 at halftime but were outscored 12-1 in the first five minutes of the final period, with Wabash missing its first nine shot attempts of the second half. The Little Giants trailed 56-34 with 12:36 left to play before hitting 11 out of 13 shot attempts over the next eight minutes to trim the lead to 64-58 with 3:35 remaining on a driving layup by Vinny Buccilla. The senior guard scored 13 of his game-high 23 points during the Little Giants’ scoring run to bring Wabash back to within six.
The visiting Bears pushed the lead back to eight points on a basket by Hayden Doyle with 2:49 on the game clock. Doyle finished with a team-best 21 points to go with six assists and eight rebounds. Buccilla scored his final baskets on another driving layup with 1:57 to bring Wabash back to within six points at 66-60.
Wabash forced a turnover on the Bears’ next possession with a chance to cut the lead to four but committed a turnover of its own under the basket with 1:13 remaining. A quick foul sent Doyle to the free throw line for WashU, where he hit both attempts to stretch the advantage to eight points. The Little Giants got the ball inside with 29 seconds left to play, but a blocked shot by the Bears and a missed second-chance three-point try for Wabash sealed the Little Giants’ fate.
Saturday’s game featured seven ties and seven more lead changes in the first half in a tight early ball game. Wabash overcame a rough shooting effort in the opening period, making only 9 of 32 field goal attempts (28.1 percent) and only connecting on one of its eight three-point tries (12.5 percent). The Little Giants finished the game 20-of-62 from the field for 32.3 percent shooting after going 11-of-30 (36.7 percent) from the field over the final 20 minutes. Wabash made 7 of 23 three-point tries for the game.
Robert Sorensen and Nate Matelic joined Buccilla as double-figure scorers for Wabash. Sorensen came off the bench to score 13 points, and Matelic added another 10 points to the Little Giants’ totals.
WashU shot 46.6 percent from the field (27 of 58) and made 7 of 16 three-point tries (43.8 percent). Will Brudzinski picked up 13 points for the Bears, while Connor May scored nine points and snared a game-high 11 rebounds. WashU outrebounded Wabash 46-34. The Bears made the most of shots in the paint, scoring 40 of their 68 points in the lane.
Saturday’s loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Little Giants.
Wabash returns to the North Coast Athletic Conference portion of its schedule with two key matchups between the three undefeated teams in the league on the horizon. The Little Giants, 3-0 in NCAC games, travel to Granville, Ohio, on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. contest against NCAC co-leader Denison (11-1, 3-0 NCAC). The Big Red remain unbeaten in conference games after a 72-57 win at Kenyon on Saturday. Wabash returns to Chadwick Court on Jan. 11, for a 2 p.m. contest against the College of Wooster. The Fighting Scots are 11-1 overall and 3-0 in conference games heading into their Saturday night game against arch-rival Wittenberg. Wooster is ranked sixth in the latest D3hoops.com top-25 poll.
