Jalen Goodwin

The College of Wooster struggled offensively Saturday to the tune of 48 points on 31.9 percent shooting from the field, both season lows, which allowed Wabash College to knock off the eighth-ranked Fighting Scots 55-48 in a North Coast Athletic Conference tussle at Crawfordsville, Ind., on Saturday.

The 15-of-47 performance marked Wooster's lowest field-goal percentage since Jan. 15, 2005, when it was under 30 percent (.289; 13-for-45) against rival Wittenberg University. That's a stretch of 253 games.

The Scots (18-3, 11-1 NCAC) once led 15-2, and it was 15-3 more than nine minutes into the action before Wabash (7-14, 5-7 NCAC) connected on its first field goal. Shortly thereafter, the Little Giants had pulled within three at 16-13, but Wooster was back ahead by double figures at halftime, 27-17.

Among the key stretches of the second half, Wabash quickly turned a 10-point deficit (35-25) into a one-point game with nine unanswered, and later, the hosts took the lead for the first time at 45-44 via a 9-2 run.

The Scots tied it on the ensuing possession, splitting a pair of free throws at the 3:52 mark, however, they would not score again until just :16 remained, with the Little Giants going ahead 51-45 during that time span.

Jalen Goodwin converted an old-fashioned three-point play to pull Wooster within one possession (51-48), only to see Wabash successfully in-bound the ball and make its free throws to seal the outcome.

In addition to their poor shooting, the Scots were done in by 15 turnovers as they scored less than 50 points in a regular season game for the first time since Feb. 14, 1996 (they were held under 50 in an NCAA Div. III Championship second-round win over Manchester College, 47-45, just two years ago).

Jake Mays was the lone Wooster player in double figures with 10 points.

Ross Sponsler helped pave the way for the upset with a game-high 20 points.

The Scots return home and will face second-place Ohio Wesleyan University (16-4, 9-3 NCAC) in a key match-up Wednesday at 8 p.m.