ELKHART – It was the little things that got in the way of a big, big win for the Wawasee boys basketball team Friday night.

A key turnover here.

A missed free throw there.

The opportunities that were not cashed in on proved costly as Elkhart Memorial rallied late to edge the Warriors 48-44 in a Northern Lakes Conference clash at venerable North Side Gym.

The host Crimson Chargers closed the game on a 10-4 run to turn back a hearty effort by Wawasee.

Joe Smith was the hero on this night for the home team. The Memorial senior guard scored eight of his game-high 17 points in the final quarter. Smith calmly drained 4-4 free throws in the final 19.3 seconds, including a pair with 10.3 ticks left to seal the win.

Smith, Memorial’s top scorer at 15.5 points-per-game, hit 6-12 shots and 4-4 free throws in the win. He scored his team’s final eight points of the contest.

Jacob Hand had a fine performance to pace the Warriors. The junior finished with 13 points to go with seven rebounds.

Wawasee, which has lost its last six games, drops to 4-7 overall and goes to 0-3 in the NLC. The Warrior program has now lost 38 straight league games dating back to the 2010-11 season.

The Warriors were hurt by 16 turnovers and a 5-12 effort from the free throw line. Wawasee was just 3-10 from the line in the second half.

Memorial, which improves to 6-6 overall and moves to 3-0 in the NLC with its third win in the last four games, was 8-9 from the line including 6-6 in the second half. The hosts, who are tied atop the NLC standings with Warsaw and NorthWood, also finished with just six turnovers.

Wawasee, which took its only lead of the night at 40-38 on a driving bucket by Hand with 3:36 to play,  saw Smith score the final eight points for his team. The Warriors tied the game at 42-42 with 1:40 to play on a hoop by Tyler Smith. Joe Smith then gave Memorial the lead for good with a jumper to make it 44-42 with 1:08 left. The Warriors were then whistled for a charging foul on offense and Joe Smith hit his four free throws to ice the win.

The Warriors, who finished 2-21 last season, impressed their first-year coach.

“I’m really proud of our guys tonight,” said Wawasee coach Jon Everingham. “Right now, we’re not focused on the wins and the losses. We are preaching for us to move the needle in the right direction and we did that here tonight.

“We came in here and competed against a good team. We did a lot of things well. You have to make free throws in a close game and unfortunately we did not make enough of those tonight.

“As disappointed as we are to lose this game, we can build on this. There is such a fine line between competing and winning. We have to compete first and we did that tonight.”

Memorial, which won 70-53 at Wawasee last season, led 11-8 after the opening period by draining a trio of treys. The hosts were up 23-17 at halftime as Trey Gallope scored his team’s first eight points of the second stanza.

The Chargers bumped their lead to as many as 11 points in the third frame at 34-23. Wawasee answered with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 36-31 going to the final period of play. Smith scored six points in the fourth quarter to rally the Warriors.

Wawasee was hurt big time by the loss of Trevon Coleman. The junior, who entered play Friday night leading his team in scoring at 13 ppg., injured his right knee. Coleman was sidelined with 4:46 to play in the third period and did not return to the game.

“I thought that our guys really responded well with Trevon out,” Everingham said. “They really care about him and I thought that they showed a lot of mental toughness when he had to go out of the game. We will get his knee examined and go from there.”

The Warriors were hurt by turnovers at critical times in the close game.

“I thought that we competed with them and kept the game close with our zone,” explained Everingham. “We just had key turnovers at bad times and that’s part of winning games. You have to avoid those and make plays in key situations.

“I thought that, by far, this was Jacob Hand’s best game of the season. And Tyler Smith made some big plays for us tonight too.”

Coleman had eight points before being injured. Junior Jairus Boyer scored six points and junior Cayden Wegener five for the Warriors.

Gallope finished with 14 points for Memorial, which had a key 21-9 edge in points off turnovers.

The Chargers, who finished 5-18 last year, shot 18-37 overall from the field.

Wawasee won the junior varsity game 35-29. Aaron Evans led the winners with 10 points. Ryan Edington scored nine points and Dalton Pearish eight for the Warriors. Jai-Veon Qaiyim led Memorial with 11 points.

Wawasee hosts Plymouth next Friday night in NLC action. Memorial plays at Hobart Saturday night.