NE Indiana News

Trine Suffers First Loss of the Season in Defensive Scrap at Stevens Point

The Trine University men's basketball team went on the road for the first time in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play and came away with a 92-61 victory at Albion College on Saturday afternoon. The Thunder shot 59.0% (36-of-61) from the field against a short-handed Britons team.

The win pushes nationally-ranked Trine to 12-1 overall and the team is 2-0 to start league action. Albion slips to 3-10 and 0-2 in the MIAA.

Aidan Smylie started the game with a made three and Brent Cox buried back-to-back jump shots to put the Thunder up 7-5 in the opening minutes. Connor Jones and Emmanuel Megnanglo scored on their opening touches as well to extend the lead to 12-8 after scores on their first five possessions.

The defense for Trine settled in after struggling at the start of the game. Over five minutes of scoreless basketball from the Britons until the 11:30 mark in the first half allowed the Thunder to build positive momentum. Grant Pahl etched his name into the scoring column with a made three off the find by Jones to go up 19-12 halfway through the first.

Albion stood tough and got the game to within one possession before a Smylie make from beyond the arc made it 22-17. That basket would spark a 16-2 scoring run for the visiting team, which was punctuated by a dunk by Megnanglo off an offensive rebound.

The floodgates remained open for the Trine offense with points on six of the final seven possessions of a 48-26 first half. The Thunder converted of 19 of their 31 attempts in the first 20 minutes of play and forced 11 Briton turnovers.

Coming out of the locker room, Cox buried a shot from distance on the team's first offensive possession. The trio of forwards in Cox, Megnanglo and Nate Carbaugh scored every point in the first eight minutes of the second half. Pahl knocked down a jump shot to go up 62-38 with 12 minutes left in regulation.

Smylie made his presence known inside by grabbing a pair of offensive rebounds and blocking a shot before the younger players got some time in the game's closing minutes. JJ Marshall, Logan Gard and Colin Shriver entered the game with seven minutes remaining while others such as Logan McKenzie, Drew Cwik and Evan Lumbrezer were put in the game a few minutes later. McKenzie, Cwik and Gard all made field goals for Trine late in the 92-61 win.

The Thunder were on the right side of the rebounding (39-27), turnover (17-9) and paint battles (50-24) in the game. Cox led the way with a team-high 22 points, while Smylie had 16 points and a team-high nine boards, both career-highs as well.

Trine returns to the MTI Center on Wednesday, January 11 when Olivet College comes to town. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

Original source can be found here.