Box Score Ross Sponsler nailed a three-point basket in the final minute of regulation, forcing overtime between Wabash College and Trine University Saturday afternoon. The Little Giants outscored the visitors 5-3 in the extra session to take a 67-65 victory and their first win of the season.
 
Wabash trailed 62-56 with 2:37 left to play in the second period before mounting its comeback. Pete Nicksic scored on a drive inside and added a free throw after being fouled to cut the lead in half. Both teams traded missed shots and turnovers entering the final minute of play before Austin Burton found Sponsler in the left corner for the long-range shot with 36 seconds left in the period to tie the game at 62-62. Will Dixon tried to give Trine (5-4) the victory just ahead of the buzzer, but his shot fell off the rim and into the hands of Nicksic.
 
Todd Watkins gave Trine the lead with a jumper in the opening minute of overtime. After a Kyle Aiton layup knotted the game at 64-64, Trine scored its final point of the contest when Tyler Good hit one of two free throws. The Thunder missed their final six shots of the contest.
 
Trailing by one point, Sponsler once again answered the call for the Little Giants. He drove the lane and found space to get a shot away and scored. Aiton added another free throw with 31 seconds left in overtime to match the largest lead of the game for Wabash at two points. Trine mustered a flurry of shots in the closing seconds but were turned away to give the Little Giants the two-point win.

"This victory was very important because it rewards the hard work everyone on this team has put in every day," Wabash head coach Antoine Carpenter said. "At this point in the season we just needed to get that monkey off our back. It's even better to get a win against a very good basketball team like Trine."
 
Wabash trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half before a three-pointer by Andy Walsh cut the lead back to eight. Walsh came off the bench to score 16 points. He combined with a six-point effort from reserve guard Austin Burton to help the Little Giants' bench outscore Trine's subs 24-8.
"Andy Walsh played a huge role for us today, as did Austin Burton," Carpenter said. "Both of those guys did a great job today. Andy's been staying in the gym taking a lot of extra shots at practice and that paid dividends today by his ability to hit some key three-point attempts."
 
"It's huge to get that first win," Walsh said. "Now we can just go out and have fun on the basketball court. I think before we've been worried as players and trying to make too many corrections with that thought of not having won yet in the back of our minds. Today we made things simpler and played our game. We knew Trine had a lot of players who could really drive the ball and penetrate the defense. We focused a lot on help defense and keeping the man with ball in front of us. That gave us some big defensive stops when we needed them."
 
Sponsler joined Walsh for high-point honors for the Little Giants with 16 points, while Aiton tossed in 13. Nicksic scored seven points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Nick Tatu led Trine with 18 points, scoring 15 in the first half. Dixon added 16 points for the game for the Thunder, but was held to four in the second half and overtime.

"The first half Trine was really able to get points on open three-point shots," Carpenter said. "We didn't do a good job flying out to them in the first half. We made an adjustment to go man and really contest every shot they attempted and really get after them on dribble penetration. Our guys gave a great effort on defense in the second half and the overtime."

Wabash (1-8) is back in action at Chadwick Court Sunday with a 3 p.m. contest against Indiana Dabney from Hammond, Indiana.