Wabash used a 10-2 first-half scoring to take a lead at 17^th-ranked Washington University – St. Louis Saturday afternoon. The Little Giants could not answer a pair of runs by the Bears in a 72-64 road loss to close out the 2023 portion of the schedule.
 
Wabash (7-6) trailed Washington University (10-1) by six points at 10-4 over the first four minutes of the game before the Little Giants scored back-to-back baskets with a driving layup by Vinny Buccilla and a three-pointer by Rich Brooks to take an 11-10 lead. The two teams traded baskets and leads over the next three minutes until a three-pointer by Avery Beaver put Wabash in front 18-16 with 11:07 showing on the first-half clock.
 
Beaver's triple sparked a 10-2 scoring run for the Little Giants, extending the lead to 25-19. Hayden Doyle ended the run with a three-pointer for WashU (9-1), but Wabash responded with another driving layup by Buccilla and three-pointers from Beaver and Ahmoni Jones to claim a 33-24 lead with 6:33 left to play in the first half. The Bears trimmed the advantage to six points at 33-27, but a driving dunk by Brooks and another three-pointer from Beaver boosted the lead to 11 points at 38-27 with 4:27 remaining in the period.
 
Doyle and Brooks traded baskets to keep the Little Giants in front 40-29 until WashU finished the period on an 8-0 run ending with a Doyle layup at the buzzer for a 40-37 halftime score in favor of Wabash.
  
The Little Giants shot 51.6 percent from the field in the opening period (16-of-31) while making 6 of 16 three-pointers for 37.5 percent shooting. Wabash needed every basket to offset Doyle's 17-point first-half scoring effort to pace the Bears' offense.
 
Nate Matelic opened the second-half scoring for Wabash, but the Bears rode another 8-0 run to claim a 45-42 lead in the first 3-1/2 minutes of the second half. Sam Comer tied the score with another three-pointer at 45-45. The two teams traded scores over the next four minutes, with WashU owning a 49-48 lead. That's when the Bears put together a 7-0 run over the next 1:35 to take a 56-48 lead midway through the final period.
 
Beaver snapped that with his fourth three-pointer of the game, and Buccilla added a driving layup and three-pointer to cut the Bears' lead to two at 58-56. WashU stretched the lead back to five points before Brooks nailed another triple, the tenth of the game for Wabash, to cut the WashU lead to two points at 61-59 with 5:52 left to play. That was as close as the Little Giants would get as WashU outscored the Little Giants 11-5 over the final 6-1/2 minutes.
 
Brooks led the Little Giants with 17 points. Buccilla added 15 points, and Beaver chipped in 14 points. Wabash finished 24-of-60 from the floor (40 percent) and 10-of-30 from three-point range (30 percent). The Little Giants grabbed 30 rebounds compared to 40 by the host Bears.
 
Doyle paced WashU with a career-high 28 points. Drake Kindsvater recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Wabash returns to the North Coast Athletic Conference portion of its schedule with a home contest against conference-leader Denison University on Wednesday, January 3, at 7 p.m. at Chadwick Court.
 
Game Notes
» Wabash found success from three-point land, knocking down 10 treys in the game.
» The Wabash bench made an impact by scoring 27 points to its scoring output.
» Rich Brooks led the Little Giants with 17 points.
» Wabash got a team-high eight rebounds from Sam Comer.