CHICAGO, ILL. -- Senior Maurice Hunter (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) recorded his 10th career double-double to help lead the Trine University men's basketball team to an 85-68 win against Concordia University Chicago in Chicago, Ill.
Hunter had season highs in both points (21) and rebounds (10) against the Cougars. He scored his 21 points on nine-of-12 shooting (75.0 percent) and was also three-of-four (75.0 percent) at the free-throw line. In addition, he also had a pair of blocked shots.
Three other players scored in double figures to lead the offensive attack that included freshman Brent Cox (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) who was second in scoring with 17 points, marking his third game this season with 15 or more points. Junior Jake Daniels (Grand Blanc, Mich./Holly) was third with 16 points with four of his six made field goals coming from three-point range.
Completing the list of double-figure scorers was senior Marcus Winters (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) who added 10 points.
In addition, senior Langston Johnson (Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Central) had a game and season-high eight assists. Sophomores Nick Bowman (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) and Bryce Williams (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) also had big nights setting up the offense with five and four helpers, respectively.
Trine (6-5) got the scoring going with a three-pointer by Williams which was followed by a layup by Winters that put the Thunder up, 5-0, early. The five quick points were part of a larger 10-2 scoring run that gave Trine a sizeable eight-point advantage. Ultimately, the Thunder never trailed in the game and outscored Concordia (3-5), 43-29, in the first half.
The Thunder led by nine points with 7:17 remaining thanks to a layup by Hunter. Following a triple by the Cougars on their ensuing offensive possession, the Thunder then went on a 12-0 run that was capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Daniels and Cox that made it an 18-point advantage for Trine, 38-20, with a little over three minutes to go in the half.
Concordia mounted a small rally with five consecutive points to narrow the gap to 13 points, 38-25, and would get to within 12 points twice, including a 41-29 deficit with 19 seconds remaining. But the half ended with a layup by Hunter in the final seconds to extend the Trine lead to 14 points at the break, 43-29.
The Cougars opened the second half with a three-pointer to pull to within 12 points again, but consecutive triples by Daniels and Langston Johnson along with a jumper from Winters, netted the Thunder their first 20-point lead of the contest at 51-31 with 16:50 left.
Trine's lead never dropped below 16 points the remainder of the game and went on to lead by as many as 23 points multiple times with the last one being a 75-52 margin following a bucket by Cox at the 7:14 mark.
The visitors ended up shooting an impressive 56.9 percent (37-of-65) for the game, as well as 43.8 percent (seven-of-16) from long range, en route to cruising to the 85-68 final to post back-to-back victories.
Trine will begin the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association portion of its schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 8 when the Thunder host Kalamazoo (Mich.) College at the MTI Center. The two teams are set to face each other at 7:30 p.m.