{"id":1700,"date":"2012-12-03T07:16:10","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/fyi\/?p=1700"},"modified":"2012-12-03T07:16:10","modified_gmt":"2012-12-03T12:16:10","slug":"growing-pains-for-little-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2012\/12\/03\/growing-pains-for-little-giants\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Pains for Little Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Amidon \u2014<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>There was one second remaining on the scoreboard clock at Wabash\u2019s Chadwick Court when freshman guard Ross Sponsler stepped to the line to attempt two free throws in a game the Little Giants led by a single point.<\/p>\n

The Terre Haute North High School graduate calmly sunk both shots \u2014 just as he had 16 seconds earlier when Wabash led Denison University by just a point in a game the Little Giants desperately needed.<\/p>\n

The freshman stood tall in both cases, scoring all four of the Little Giants last points in a North Coast Athletic Conference victory that snapped a two-game losing streak and helped erase memories of a miserable game earlier in the week against Rose-Hulman.<\/p>\n

These Little Giants \u2014 these young, but talented players \u2014 will be fun to watch in the coming years.<\/p>\n

There will be moments like in last Monday\u2019s loss to Rose, when Wabash looks like a rag-tag group of freshmen and sophomores trying to learn how to play together at the college level.<\/p>\n

But there also will be moments like last Saturday\u2019s win over Denison when the full potential of these young basketball players is readily apparent. The Little Giants built a big lead against an experienced team led by an all-conference player, relinquished the lead, and then leaned on the rookies to eek out a much-needed NCAC victory.<\/p>\n

Denison had cut the Wabash lead to just three points when Little Giant junior Andy Walsh buried a three-pointer to push the home team\u2019s lead back to six points with nine minutes to play.<\/p>\n

From that moment on, freshmen scored the final 17 points for Wabash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Freshman Austin Burton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sponsler scored 11 points in the final six minutes of his first game back after sitting out a few games with an injury.<\/p>\n

Denison had taken a one-point lead late in the game. That\u2019s when Southmont graduate, Austin Burton, who earned his first collegiate start, sunk a three-pointer. He later added a critical free throw and finished with eight points, three rebounds, and two assists.<\/p>\n

Freshman forward Daniel Purvlicis started alongside Burton with sophomores Kasey Oetting and Houston Hodges. Junior Pete Nicksic was the starting center.<\/p>\n

By game\u2019s end, freshmen and sophomores contributed 50 of Wabash\u2019s 75 points and 23 of 41 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Coach Antoine Carpenter has a young Wabash basketball team. It might well be the youngest team to take the court for the Little Giants in decades.<\/p>\n

But it is a very talented team. When Coach Carpenter can get his players to understand their roles, run the offense, and hustle on defense, they are very good and a joy to watch. The team\u2019s seniors \u2014\u00a0Jordan Surenkamp, Evan Johnson, and Colten Craigen are doing a terrific job teaching the rookies the ropes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Freshman Daniel Purvlicis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Purvlicis is a 6-7 forward with soft hands and good instincts around the basket.<\/p>\n

Rookie center Marcus Kammrath stands 6-9 and is the team\u2019s tallest player. As his defense improves, his minutes will increase, and he\u2019ll soon be a powerful force in the paint. (He had six rebounds in just nine minutes.)<\/p>\n

The rookie guards, Burton and Sponsler, are both hard-nosed players who bring toughness to the position. Both were well-coached in high school and it shows in their ability to handle the ball and take key shots in pressure-packed situations.<\/p>\n

The sophomores have suddenly been cast in the roles of leaders. Oetting, a silky 6-7 forward, scored 15 points with seven boards in Saturday\u2019s win. Hodges is still getting into basketball shape after football season, yet he\u2019s contributing mightily as a leader.<\/p>\n

In a season that\u2019s just five games old, you don\u2019t want to start talking about \u201cnext year.\u201d But it is fun to imagine how good this team will be a year or two years from now.<\/p>\n

I think these Little Giants are just talented and scrappy enough to surprise some of the league\u2019s front-runners before this season ends. There will be growing pains along the way, but the upside of this team is exciting.<\/p>\n

Coach Carpenter will get a sense of the team\u2019s toughness soon enough. Wabash plays five of its next six games on the road, including a trip to always-tough Wooster.<\/p>\n

Plan now, though, to check out this promising young team when it hosts Hanover on December 17. If you are a basketball fan, you will like what you see, and you, too, will witness the beginning of a new era of Wabash basketball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Amidon \u2014\u00a0There was one second remaining on the scoreboard clock at Wabash\u2019s Chadwick Court when freshman guard Ross Sponsler stepped to the line to attempt two free throws in a game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2012\/12\/main_01-Burton.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}