Turnovers and a pair of scoring runs led to the first North Coast Athletic Conference loss for the Wabash basketball team. The Little Giants lost 81-52 in a road contest at 17th-ranked Wooster Saturday afternoon.
 
The Little Giants committed 19 turnovers which led to 17 points for Wooster in the 29-point victory. The Scots used Wabash turnovers to take a 12-point halftime lead after the game was tied with seven minutes left to play in the opening period.
 
"It's unfortunate but we fueled that little run at the end (of the first half) with turnovers and opportunities where we got them to miss one shot but couldn't finish the possession," Wabash head coach Kyle Brumett said. "Wooster caused as many problems with their pressure defense as they did with their offense. The number of points they got off our turnovers or the pressure they created in that last stretch of the first half that forced us into some shots might have led to some baskets for them in transition. That was a big part of them separating themselves."
 
Wabash took an early three-point lead at the outset on a basket by Kasey Oetting before trading baskets with the Scots throughout the first few minutes of the game. Wooster took a 12-6 lead by posting a 7-1 run at the 14-minute mark before Aiton found Daniel Purvlicis open underneath the basket for two of his team-high 15 points. Purvlicis scored again for the Little Giants to trim the advantage to two points prior to a Jaylen Kimble triple three offensive series later to put Wabash up 13-12.  
 
With the score tied at 18-18, Wooster started a 16-4 run to close out the first half on a jumper by Xavier Brown. Brown scored 10 of his game-high 24 points during that seven-minute stretch to provide a 34-22 halftime edge for the hometown Scots.
 
"Xavier Brown is a really tough matchup," Brumett said. "He's an elite guard at our level --- a guy who can drive the ball both ways, score on you in the lane, and make the contested jump shot. You have to be able to put points on the board when they get into a rhythm. You don't have to necessarily play point-for-point with them, but if you can continue to do the things offensively that are giving them some trouble I think you can then work to break their rhythm."
 
Wabash held the Scots to a pair of three-point field goals in the first half. Wooster began to heat up from long range over the final 20 minutes, connecting on 6-of-15 in the final period for 40 percent. The Scots used the long ball along with several drives to the basket to push its lead to as many as 20 points.
 
The Little Giants rallied with a basket from Zack Patton and another three-pointer from Oetting, but the 15-point deficit would be as close as Wabash would get for the rest of the ball game.
 
Wabash shot 36.8 percent from the field for the game (21-of-57), while the Scots (5-2, 2-1 NCAC) connected on 31-of-68 for 45.6 percent. Oetting scored eight points for the Little Giants (5-2, 2-1 NCAC) and grabbed five rebounds to go with a pair of blocked shots. Kimble and Marcus Kammrath each scored seven points for Wabash. Evan Pannell and Spencer Williams each tallied 14 points for Wooster.
 
The Little Giants will travel to Franklin Saturday for a 3 p.m. tipoff against the Grizzlies.