ANGOLA, IND.-- Trine's men's basketball team rallied back from a seven-point deficit late to earn a 78-74 non-conference victory over Franklin Wednesday evening in Hershey Hall.
The Thunder trailed 71-64 with 4:52 to play, but outscored the visiting Grizzlies 14-3 the rest of the way to earn a hard-fought victory. Trine held Franklin to one field goal over the final 8:05, which came on a meaningless three as time expired. Will Dixon (Indianapolis, Ind.) led four Thunder in double-figures, scoring 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting and dishing out three assists. Dixon has scored 20-plus points in three consecutive games. Dion Smith scored 17 points to lead Franklin. Each team shot very well, with Trine connecting on 52 percent from the field (29-of-56) and the Grizzlies hitting 25-of-49 (51 percent). The contest was tight throughout, with four ties and 17 lead changes. Trine improves to 5-3 on the season and has won four of their last five games. Franklin falls to 5-4 overall.
Nick Tatu (Clarkston, Mich.) added a season-high 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-9 from three-point range. Tyler Good (Swanton, Ohio) notched 15 points, while Jared Holmquist added 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Todd Watkins (Cincinnati, Ohio) provided key minutes off the bench, scoring seven points and playing solid defense down the stretch despite playing with four fouls. Thunder hit 60 percent from distance (9-of-15) and 15-of-18 from the charity stripe (83 percent).
Bailey Howard scored 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting for Franklin. Troy Porter added 12 points, while Robbie Prather came off the bench to score 11 points and knock down all three of his attempts from distance. The Grizzlies committed 16 turnovers, which resulted in a 22-17 points off turnover edge for Trine.
The key stretch of the game came after Franklin had used a 21-6 surge to take a 71-64 lead with 4:52 to play. Dixon and Tatu each drew fouls and buried both free throw attempts to cut the deficit to three. A steal by Dixon gave the Thunder possession again, and Good found Holmquist for a layup to cut the score to 71-70 with 3:03 on the clock.
Franklin missed a three at the other end and regained possession with an offensive board, but a block by Holmquist gave the Thunder another big defensive stop. Good drew another foul at the other end and split a pair of free throws with 1:37 on the clock to tie the score. At the other end, Watkins was fouled while rebounding a miss and split a pair of free throws to make it 72-71 with 1:17 to play.
On the ensuing possession Watkins made the defensive play of the game, coming from the help side to sky for a block with a minute remaining. On the ensuing Thunder possession, Dixon drove the lane, drew the contact and hit a tough fall-away off the glass to give Trine a three-point lead. Dixon converted the free throw for the old-fashioned three to make it a two-possession game, 75-71 with 26 seconds to play.
The Thunder came away with a pair of stops, and Dixon and Tatu combined to hit three out of four free tosses to put the game away. Prather hit a three at the buzzer for Franklin to give the Grizzlies their only field goal after the 8:05 mark of the second half.
Trine will look to extend their winning-streak to three when they travel to Wabash for a 3:00 tip-off this Saturday, Dec. 21.