ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine men's basketball team will compete for an NCAA Tournament bid this weekend when the Thunder compete in the MIAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Hope College.
The Thunder earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament after finishing conference play 9-5. The team takes on No. 2 seed Calvin in the semifinals Friday evening at DeVos Fieldhouse. The Knights recorded a 10-4 mark in conference action. The winner of Friday's semifinal matchup advances to the MIAA Championship Saturday night, where it will take on MIAA regular-season champion Hope or No. 4 seed Alma. Tip-off of Friday night's matchup between Trine and Calvin is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Both of this season's matchups between the Thunder and Knights were decided in the closing minutes. Calvin won both games by a combined total of five points. Tony Canonie hit a go-ahead layup in the closing seconds to give the Knights a 66-64 victory in the meeting at Trine. A 21-2 run over a span of seven minutes was the difference in Calvin's 61-58 victory on its home floor.
Trine enters this weekend having won five of its last six games. The Thunder led the conference in scoring defense for the fourth straight year. The team allowed 68 points per game. Trine led the conference and ranked sixth in the nation in three-point field goal shooting, knocking down 41.8 percent of its attempts from long range. The team also committed the fewest turnovers in the MIAA at just 11.6 per contest.
Calvin led the MIAA in rebounding margin, owning a 7.2 edge on its opponents in rebounds per game. The Knights averaged more than 11 rebounds per game on the offensive end, the most in the conference. The team held its opponents to 36.2 percent three-point shooting, the second-best mark in the conference. The Knights won four of their last five regular season games, including a 65-62 win over Hope that gave the Dutch its only MIAA loss.
Will Dixon (Indianapolis, Ind. / Zionsville) averaged 19.6 points per game, third in the MIAA, to lead the Thunder this season. The senior finished as the MIAA's leader in assists at 4.7 per game while sporting a 2.21 assist-to-turnover ratio. Dixon has a chance to move into the top four in scoring in school history this weekend. He currently ranks sixth all-time with 1,784 career points.
Ellis Cummings (Ottawa Hills, Ohio / Ottawa Hills) led the conference in blocked shots at 1.83 per game for Trine. Kyle Dodson (Centerville, Ohio / Centerville) averaged 13.6 points on 48.6 percent field goal shooting, while Myles Copeland (Toledo, Ohio / St. John's) notched two double-doubles.
Cam Denney stuffed the stat sheet with 12.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists for Calvin. Denney led the conference with eight double-doubles, while his assists average was second in the league. He also notched a rare triple-double. Michael Wilks averaged a team-high 13.1 points per game and shot 49.1 percent from the field.
A win would give Trine its second consecutive berth in the MIAA Tournament championship game. The Thunder reached the title game for the first time in program history last year by defeating No. 1 seed Hope. Trine was swept by Hope and split its two meetings against Alma this year, as both the Scots and Thunder won matchups on their respective home floors.
Tip-off of Saturday night's championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
CLICK HERE for more information on the MIAA Men's Basketball Tournament.