The Little Giants used a lock-down defense to stifle its second straight opponent Saturday afternoon. Wabash defeated the eight-ranked College of Wooster Fighting Scots 55-48 Saturday, three days after earning a 52-48 win against DePauw.

"The win definitely means a lot for us because we were able to build on the win over DePauw," Coach Antoine Carpenter said. "Also, our younger guys continued to get more confident and play better."

The Scots tested Wabash's confidence early. The Scots jumped out to a 15-2 lead after handing the Little Giants their worst loss of the season earlier at Wooster, 97-56.

"They did good job starting off quick and we missed some shots," Carpenter said. "I reminded our guys of the DePauw game when we were down 14-4. We just needed to keep competing."

Carpenter and his staff switched defenses after the early Wooster lead. The move to an aggressive 2-3 zone defense stymied Wooster for much of the game.

"Wooster is very athletic and each player can get to the rim so we tried to slow them down a little bit and control the tempo," Carpenter said.

"The game plan was to keep them under 50 shots so if they made one, we'd walk it up the court and if they missed we tried to push it," guard Houston Hodges added.

"They usually get up a lot of shots per game so the zone made some guys get impatient and do things they're not use to doing and that led to some of the turnovers."

The Wabash defense forced 15 turnovers on the afternoon. The Scots were held to a frigid 31.9 percent shooting for the game—25.9 percent in the second half.

Wooster's backcourt combo of Doug Thorpe and Xavier Brown came in averaging a combined 27 points per game, but were held to a total of 13 points on 4-of-21 shooting.

After Wooster amassed the 15-2 lead, Wabash responded with an 11-1 run capped by an Andy Walsh three-pointer. Walsh's triple pulled the Little Giants to within three, but the Scots separated themselves and held a 27-17 halftime advantage.

Wabash closed the gap with a 9-0 run halfway through the second period to pull within one, 35-34.

Again, Wooster extended the lead—this time to six—but true to its motto, Wabash continued to fight. Walsh converted on a four-point play by draining a three and hitting the subsequent free throw to slice the Wooster lead to 42-40 at the 6:41 mark.

Two minutes later, Hodges found fellow guard Ross Sponsler spotting up for a three on the wing. Sponsler connected and gave Wabash its first lead of the game, 45-44.

"It was a huge turnaround from the previous game (against Wooster) and it shows how we've progressed as a team," Sponsler said. "We fought back this time. We've been in games this year where we've gotten down and stayed down but we really fought in this game."

Sponsler led all scorers with 20 and made seven of his eight free-throw attempts.

Wooster had the highly-touted backcourt, but Wabash's guards took over the final minute of the game. With a 46-45 advantage, the diminutive Hodges drove into the paint and muscled a layup over the towering Wooster defender to extend the lead to three.

The Wabash zone puzzled Wooster on the ensuing possession, and Hodges soared into the lane from the three-point line for the defensive rebound on a miss by the Scots in the closing minute.

Hodges wasn't finished. He drew a foul and calmly drained two free throws to push the Little Giant lead to 50-45 with 41 seconds remaining.

Wooster (18-3, 11-1 NCAC) responded when forward Jalen Goodwin converted on a three-point play to pull Wooster to within three with 16 seconds left.

But, just as he did in Wednesday's victory versus DePauw, Sponsler stepped up to the free-throw line and iced the game with two makes.

"It was the same thing as Wednesday," he said. "I have confidence to make the shots every time I go up."

Wooster center Jake Mays led the team in scoring with 10 points—he was the only player to reach double figures for the Scots.

Hodges scored six points for Wabash and dished out four assists. Daniel Purvlicis and Walsh each scored seven points.
The Wabash victory marks the second-consecutive year it has defeated Wooster in Crawfordsville. The Scots visited as the fifth-ranked team last year and lost, 72-58. Wabash also defeated the Scots when they were ranked first in the nation two years ago, 69-68 in overtime at Wooster.

"Coach Carpenter says 'We've always been a thorn in Wooster's side,'" senior wingman Jordan Surenkamp said. "It's nice to cap off a big week like this."

The Little Giant family is also dealing with off-court hardships, despite this week's success. Senior guard Evan Johnson's home in Orleans, IN burned down Thursday night. Fortunately, his family was not harmed. Johnson played with high-energy today on the defensive end, registering a steal.

Wabash (7-14, 5-7 NCAC) travels to Springfield, Ohio Wednesday evening for an 8 p.m. tip at Wittenberg University.