Box Score The Little Giants' worst shooting effort of the season led to a 66-61 loss to host Transylvania University in the final game of the Don Lane Invitational on Wednesday night.
The loss knocked Wabash from the list of undefeated basketball teams as the 14th-ranked Little Giants fall to 9-1 for the season.
Wabash connected on 22 off its 64 shot attempts for 34 percent, while the Pioneers hit 45 percent of their shots in the contest (24-of-50).
The real struggle for the Little Giants came inside the three-point arc. Wabash hit 12-of-36 long-range shots (33.3 percent), but connected on only 10 of 28 attempts from inside are the arc (35.7 percent). Transylvania used good free throw shooting to offset the Little Giants' deep-ball scoring. The Pioneers only hit four three-pointers, but went 14-of-20 from the stripe including 12 attempts in the final minute when the Little Giants were forced to foul to stop the clock. Wabash only attempted six free throws, hitting five of those scarce opportunities.
The 36 three-point attempts is the second-most in a single game by a Wabash team. The Little Giants were 12-of-41 against Anderson University in 1994.
The Little Giants led by as many as seven points in the first half before going scoreless over the final 4:42 of the period to settle for a 23-21 at the break. Transylvania would shoot a spectacular 14-of-23 from the field in the final period, erasing a 43-42 lead held by Wabash with 7:56 left in the contest. The Pioneers used an 8-0 run to take control of the game, then held off a final run by the Little Giants paced by
Brian Shelbourne,
Austin Hawn, and
Aaron Zinnerman. Wabash trailed by nine points in the final minute before a pair of treys by Hawn cut the lead to four points. Transylvania hit 8 of its final 12 free throw attempts in the closing minute to ice the victory and remain undefeated at 9-0.
For the second night in a row the Little Giants dominated the glass, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds as part of a total of 44 carroms. However, this time Wabash would be unable to convert the second-chance opportunities into points a majority of the time, scoring only 13 second-chance points in the contest.
Shelbourne finished with a team-high 14 points to earn a place on the all-invitational team, while
Derek Bailey tossed in 11 points.
Nick Curosh grabbed 10 rebounds. Brandan Rash finished with a game-high 25 points for Transylvania. Ethan Spurlin added 19 points and Tate Cox scored 12.
Wabash will look to regroup with a final non-conference contest next Thursday night at home against in-state rival Franklin College. Tipoff at Chadwick Court is set for 7:30 p.m.
