Box Score Wabash erased a 10-point deficit in the first half against nationally-ranked Washington University-St. Louis Friday evening. But a tough start to the second half ended in an 82-70 loss for the Little Giants to the host Bears in the second game of the 34^th Annual Lopata Classic in St. Louis, Missouri.
 
Wabash (0-1) fell behind 7-1 in the first six minutes of the game against the ninth-ranked Bears (1-0) before Harrison Hallstrom scored the first basket of the game for the Little Giants. Washington University's senior laden lineup pushed the lead to 15-5 off a three-pointer by Kevin Kucera. The senior-guard scored 13 points in the first half and finished with 19 for the game.
 
The Little Giants began cutting into the Washington University lead when Ben Stachowski drained a jumper, followed by a pair of free throws for Hallstrom. Freshman Jack Davidson added a driving layup to cut the Bears' lead to four points with ten minutes remaining in the first half. Davidson scored a team-high 19 points in his collegiate debut, hitting 6-of-14 shots from field in the game.
 
Wabash whittled the Washington University lead to one point starting with a three-point basket by Alex Eberhard. Hallstrom added another three with a layup and free throw to make the score 24-23 in favor of the Bears. Washington University pushed the lead back to four points before Ben Stachowski hit back-to-back baskets to even the score at 31-31 with 2:43 remaining in the first period.
 
Stachowski started a 9-0 run for the Little Giants that provided Wabash a 38-31 halftime advantage. The Bears regained the lead in the second half with a 20-12 scoring run in the first five minutes of the period. Washington University took advantage of a pair of Wabash turnovers to extend its lead back to six points at 56-50. The Little Giants eventually trailed by 13 before once again cutting into the lead, moving as close as seven points but no closer.
 
Davidson led Wabash in scoring with his 19-point night. Kucera's 19 paced the Bears in scoring, with Andrew Sanders adding 15. Eberhard scored 12 for the Little Giants.
 
"Washington University is a very experienced team that has goals of winning a very tough conference and trying to compete for a national championship," Wabash head coach Kyle Brumett said. "We're going into each game trying to make progress from the last practice. To get off to such a slow offensive start as we did tonight and then to be able to grind through that was a really positive feeling for me as the coach. We made some plays that kept us in the game until some of the nerves and jitters went away.
 
"Jack is the easy person to point to. It's his first college game and he has the ball in his hands and his going nose-to-nose with a potential All-American senior guard. But Alex Eberhard's role is so different from what it was a year ago. Tonight was like a first game for him too. I think both of those guys acknowledge that they got off to a slow start. They had to get through the first few minutes of the game to let those jitters pass. Some other guys made some plays in that stretch. Parker Manges came in off the bench and gave us a little bit of an offensive lift. Then he had a stretch in the second half when he struggled a bit. That's a little bit of who we're going to be. I hope that we get into a regular rotation of guys but we're just not there yet. We had some new guys and some guys who didn't play as much last year play well to start this season. We've had some guys who have more experience not get off to as smooth of a start. We had a great attitude in the locker room after the game."
 
Wabash will regroup to face Webster University in Saturday's consolation game of the Lopata Classic. The Gorloks lost 83-68 to sixth-ranked Tufts University in Friday's opening game of the Classic. Tipoff Saturday is at 5 p.m. Central Standard Time.