Box Score Fouls and free throws hindered the Wabash basketball team Friday night in its season opener. The Little Giants fell to Franklin College 96-91 in overtime.
 
"Franklin hit its free throws and we didn't," Coach Antoine Carpenter said. "That hurt us down the stretch and it helped them down the stretch."
 
Wabash (0-1) only made 63.3 percent of its free throws.
 
The NCAA implemented a new rule disallowing hand checking by a defender. The referees called 58 personal fouls in the game, and 70 total free throws were attempted. Carpenter said the players will have to adjust.
 
"You're allowed to use your hands your whole life and all of a sudden you can't use them," Carpenter said. "We kind of bailed Franklin out by not driving early. We need to do a better job on attacking the rim on our offensive end."
 
Guard Kyle Aiton felt the defense didn't do a good job protecting the lane.
 
"We have to move our feet and keep our hands out—'be long' is what Coach always says," Aiton said. "We have to be in the passing lanes and no middle. (Terry Sargent) did a great job of getting to the middle, but we'll work on it."
 
Aiton started the overtime scoring going 1-of-2 from the stripe, 76-75. However, it was the last Wabash lead. Guard Bailey Howard helped the Grizzlies (1-0) jump out to a 10-point gap halfway through over time. He made three pointers on consecutive possessions and added a layup, 87-77.  
 
"Experience definitely played a factor in overtime," Carpenter said. "They had a veteran lineup and four guys that could handle the ball and knew what needed to be done. We turned the ball over, but our guys will learn from it."
 
Aiton and fellow freshman Gary Ulrich started the game and overtime in Wabash's backcourt. Aiton scored 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three. Ulrich added 7 points and forced 5 steals.
 
"We're not a bad shooting team—we're going to hit shots," Aiton said. "We didn't hit all of our shots tonight though."
 
Center Pete Nicksic had a strong start to the season. He scored 20 on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds. The Little Giants' leading scorers from last season — Ross Sponsler and Daniel Purvlicis — struggled in their sophomore debuts. The duo combined to score 6 points on 2-of-18 shooting.  
Howard led all scorers with 25 points — 8 coming in overtime. Trae Washington was second on the team with 20.
 
The Little Giants will travel Wednesday to Hanover for a 7:30 tipoff.