ANGOLA, IND. -- Junior Myles Copeland (Perrysburg, Ohio/Toledo St. John's) scored a career-high 41 points to lead the Trine University men's basketball team past Calvin (Mich.) College, 75-68, in overtime in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association game at the MTI Center.
Copeland scored his 41 points on 17-of-29 shooting (58.6 percent) and grabbed 11 rebounds to complete a double-double effort. He was the lone Thunder player to score in double figures with the next highest scorer being sophomore Jason Clune (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) with nine points.
Trine (10-12, 6-5 MIAA) led by seven points, 16-9, at the 11:03 mark when Calvin (8-14, 4-6 MIAA) went on an 18-4 scoring run to swing the lead in its favor by seven points, 27-20, with 3:17 to play in the first half. A jumper by Clune then sparked a 10-3 run for Trine that evened the game at 30-30 with a little over a minute to go.
The final points of the half were scored by the Knights on a pair of free-throws to give the visitors a narrow, 32-30, margin at halftime.
Calvin quickly extended its lead to seven points again within the first minute of the second period on its way to eventually leading by 10 points, 44-34, with 14:51 to go in regulation. A layup by sophomore Marcus Winters (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) followed by baskets by fellow junior Jared Dishop (Napoleon, Ohio/Liberty Center) and Copeland put the Thunder down by just four points, 44-40, at the 13:12 mark.
Later in the half, the Knights looked to be back in control with a nine-point margin, 55-46, when a string of nine straight Trine points that ended in a jumper by Copeland, tied the game at 55-55, with 4:37 to go. The two teams swapped leads the rest of the way with Trine hitting a go-ahead bucket on another jumper by Copeland to lead, 63-61, with 50 seconds remaining in the half.
Following an ensuing timeout after the Copeland basket, Calvin evened the game at 63-63 on its next offensive possession with 23 seconds left. Trine missed on a shot attempt in the final seconds, but would get a second chance as the rebound went off of a Calvin player with a second on the clock. The final shot attempt as time expired also missed its mark, keeping the game deadlocked at 63-63, and forced overtime.
Trine looked to take control early with six straight points, all scored by Copeland, that put Trine ahead, 69-63, with 3:08 remaining. But the Knights came right back with four consecutive points to make it a one-possession game, 69-67, at the 1:43 mark. The Thunder put the game away at the free-throw line off of missed Calvin shot attempts that forced the Knights to foul. Trine connected on six straight attempts at the charity stripe, including the last two coming off the hands of Copeland that gave him his 41 total points for the game and set a career-high.
Trine also went on to prevail by the final score of, 75-68, and took a one-game lead over Albion (Mich.) College for a possible fourth and final spot in the MIAA Tournament as the regular season is quickly winding down.
Calvin had three players all finish with 17 points to lead the team, including two players who recorded double-doubles in Austin Bykerk and Derrick DeVries. Bykerk grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds in addition to his 17 points and DeVries pulled down 10 boards.
Trine is scheduled to take on Albion on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. in Albion, Mich.