Box Score Wabash held the second-ranked College of Wooster basketball team to 21 first-half points Saturday afternoon. However, turnovers and poor free throw shooting by the Little Giants sparked a second-half run by the visiting Scots to a 54-41 win.

View photos from the game here and here.
 
Wabash trailed by one point Saturday when it entered the locker room against Wooster. However, a 17-6 Scots run to start the second half proved key in the Little Giants' loss.
 
"The best way to stop a run is by hitting shots and not turning the basketball over," Carpenter said. "Our defense kept us in the game but we missed way too many shots. When you're unable to score, you still have to hit your free throws."
 
Wabash helped the early second-half run with 7 turnovers in the first 7 minutes, including 4 turnovers on its first four possessions. It also shot a paltry 6-of-18 from the free-throw line.  
 
Kyle Aiton provided a brief spark to the Little Giant offense in the second half. With the shot clock ticking down and a hand in his face, Aiton knocked down a three to cut the Wooster (7-0, 4-0 NCAC) lead to single digits, 38-29. Kasey Oetting made a free throw on the next possession to trim the Scots' lead to eight, the closest the Little Giants would come for the remainder of the game.
 
Neither team made a significant run after the Wooster burst. The defensive struggle held both teams below 40-percent shooting, while each team scored its lowest point total this season.
 
"Defensively, it was a really strong effort — there was a lot of tenacity and aggressiveness," Carpenter said. "Our goal was to fly out to shooters and box out. You have to give to those guys for really putting in a lot of effort from a defensive standpoint."
 
Wooster guards Doug Thorpe and Xavier Brown entered Saturday scoring 17.5 and 14.8 points-per-game, respectively, but were held to a combined 4-16 shooting from the field and  15 points.
 
"We knew both of them are very dynamic guards," Carpenter said. "They really get to the rim well and they can shoot it from the outside. Our goal was to be a defense by committee. We wanted to help each other out and compete every time they drove the basketball."
 
Wabash's backcourt duo of Aiton and Ross Sponsler outplayed the Wooster duo. Sponsler scored 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting and Aiton notched 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
 
"I was a little nervous," Aiton said about playing the talented guards. "Knowing either one of them could be All-Americans is a little nerve racking, but I held my own against them — I tried to think of them as just another ball player."
 
Wooster still managed to replace some of the production from its backcourt. Freshman forward Dan Fanelly led the Scots with 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting, and senior guard Scott Purcell scored 12, shooting 3-of-6 from three-point range.
 
Conversely, Wabash struggled to find extra help offensively.
 
"We're 0-8 right now and it's a struggle," Aiton said. "But everybody has confidence in each other. Everybody has to have the same mindset of 'If my role is called to knock down the shot, I need to knock down the shot.' They just need to have that confidence mindset."
 
The Little Giants (0-8, 0-3 NCAC) will play host to Trine University next Saturday for a 3 p.m. tipoff.