Historic Shooting Effort Leads Trine Over Kalamazoo

Historic Shooting Effort Leads Trine Over Kalamazoo

KALAMAZOO, MICH.-- Trine's men's basketball team turned in one of the best shooting performances in school-history on their way to a 84-68 victory over Kalamazoo in MIAA-action Saturday afternoon at Anderson Athletic Center.

The Thunder shot 65.2 percent from the field (30-of-46) on the afternoon. The effort was the second-best shooting percentage by a Trine team since the school transitioned to Division III, narrowly missing the school record of 67.4 percent (31-of-46) set against Franklin on Nov. 18, 2008. Leading the way for the Thunder was Jared Holmquist (Reed City, Mich./Reed City), who scored a career-high 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting. Holmquist averaged 22.5 points on 76 percent shooting in two games this week. Chase Baysdell led Kalamazoo with 16 points. Trine improved 13-8 overall and moved into third-place in the MIAA with a 6-4 league record. Kalamazoo falls to 9-12 overall and 4-6 in conference play.

Will Dixon (Indianapolis, Ind./Zionsvile) scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting for Trine. The freshman has now topped 20 points in five games this season. Tyler Good (Swanton, Ohio/Evergreen) added 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Dustin Hall (Fort Wayne, Ind./South Side) once again made an impact with his passing, dishing out a season-high nine assists. Hall has 16 assists to just four turnovers since joining the starting lineup Wednesday. The Thunder hit 8-of-11 from three-point range (73 percent).

Adam Peters notched 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting for Kalamazoo. The Hornets shot 56 percent from the field (24-of-43), but were held to just 5-of-16 (31 percent) from long-distance.

The Thunder came out of the gates on fire, hitting their first four buckets to open up a 10-1 lead at the 16:53 mark. Todd Watkins (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Bernard) and Holmquist provided buckets inside, while Dixon and Good splashed in treys to pace the hot start.

Trine would continue that torrid shooting pace throughout the entire first half, as the Thunder hit 16-of-21 attempts from the field (81 percent) prior to the break. Trine hit eight-consecutive field goal attempts following the 10-1 start to hit 12 of their first 14 field goal attempts. That helped open up a 29-14 lead after a Jake Bagley (Van Wert, Ohio/Van Wert) three with 8:09 to play in the first half.

The hot shooting would pace Trine to lead by as much as 19 in the first half. Dixon closed the half with a three at the buzzer to make the score 50-32 at the break. Homlmquist scored 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting in the first 20 minutes.

Though the Thunder cooled off in the second half, Kalamazoo was unable to overcome the large deficit. Trine led by as much as 25, and the Hornets were never able to pull any closer than 16. 

Trine returns to action Wednesday night when they host MIAA-foe Alma at 7:30 p.m. in Hershey Hall. The Thunder are 6-2 at home this season.