ADRIAN, MICH. -- The Trine University men's basketball team trailed by as many as eight points in the early minutes of the first half until a 24-4 scoring run put the Thunder ahead for good and led to a 75-61 win against Adrian (Mich.) College to stay unbeaten in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Senior Langston Johnson (Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Central) led all players in scoring with 28 points and scored 21 of his game-high total in the first half alone. He ended the game shooting 11-of-17 from the floor (64.7 percent) and also had five rebounds. Freshman Brent Cox (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) also scored in double figures with 12 points and was one of three players to tally a team-high six rebounds.
Senior Marcus Winters (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) rounded out the high scorers with 10 points and had a game-high seven assists to go along with six boards.
Adrian (7-7, 1-2 MIAA) jumped out to an early 10-2 lead when a layup by junior Jake Daniels (Grand Blanc, Mich./Holly) began Trine's (9-5, 3-0 MIAA) sizeable run which gave the Thunder the lead, the only lead change of the game, by a score of 26-14 following a three-pointer by Langston Johnson with 8:12 to go in the first half.
Later in the period, the Bulldogs crept back to within four points, 29-25, at the 5:39 mark until another run by Trine to end the half ended the possible rally. Leading by four points, Cox was fouled on a three-point attempt and converted all three shots to begin a 9-2 run as part of a larger 13-4 scoring streak to put Trine ahead by 13 points at the break, 42-29.
Trine looked to pull away to start the second half as a string of nine unanswered points that started with a layup by Winters with the Thunder leading by 13 points, 48-35, ended in Trine posting its largest lead of the game of 22 points with 14:34 to play following a layup by sophomore Brandan Johnson (Fort Wayne, Ind./North Side).
Adrian then answered with an ensuing 13-0 run of its own to cut the Trine lead to single figures at nine points, 57-48, at the 9:46 mark. The Bulldogs made it an eight-point game with 6:38 remaining, but that was as close as the home team got as a 7-0 Trine run that ended in a jumper by senior Maurice Hunter (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) extended the lead back to double digits by a score of 71-56.
A layup by Winters with a little over 30 seconds left made it a 17-point advantage for Trine as the Thunder would go on to win by the final of 75-61.
Trine will continue its mini two-game road trip on Saturday, Jan. 18 when the Thunder travel to Grand Rapids, Mich. for a MIAA game against Calvin College. The game is set to start at 3 p.m.