ALBION, MICH. -- The Trine University men's basketball team defeated top-seeded Albion (Mich.) College, 77-73, to advance to the championship game of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament at Kresge Gymnasium in Albion, Mich.
Senior Langston Johnson (Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Central) led the Thunder in scoring with 20 points and shot seven-of-15 from the field (46.7 percent). He also grabbed five rebounds and tallied four assists.
Senior Maurice Hunter (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) was second in scoring with 16 points and had a team-high seven rebounds to go along with a game-high five blocked shots. Senior Jake Daniels (Grand Blanc, Mich./Holly) was the other Thunder player in double figures with 15 points with all his points coming from three-point range where he made five triples in seven attempts (71.4 percent).
In addition, senior Marcus Winters (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) had a game-high 10 assists to go along with eight points.
Trine (16-11) started out the game with eight unanswered points, that included four points by Hunter during the run. Albion (21-5) later pulled to within two points, 13-11, when the Thunder answered with six staight points to go back up by eight, 19-11, following a layup by freshman Brent Cox (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) at the 11:45 mark.
The Thunder went on to lead by as many as 13 points in the first half as the result of a 7-0 scoring run while already ahead by six points. Langston Johnson capped the run with a jumper with just over six minutes to go in the period and a score of 36-23. Trine went on to post its largest lead of the half of 16 points on two occasions with the last one being a 43-27 margin thanks to a jumper by Hunter with 3:31 left before the break.
Albion recorded the only points in the final minutes after the Hunter basket, but Trine still went into the locker room with a double-digit advantage by a margin of 43-30.
Cox began the second half with a three-pointer to put Trine back up by 16 points, 46-30. Less than two minutes later, the Thunder posted their largest lead of the contest of 18 points after a pair of free-throws by Hunter with 18 minutes to go.
Albion then began to chip away at the Trine lead and later made it a 10-point game thanks to an 8-0 run with a score of 50-40 at the 14:13 mark. A three-pointer by sophomore Bryce Williams (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) made it a 13-point difference, but the Britons' rally continued with four more straight points to narrow the gap to single figures, 53-44.
Trine later led by 12 points, 56-44, when Albion went on a 6-0 run to make it a six-point game, 56-50, with 8:34 on the clock. The Britons stayed within striking distance and later took a one-point lead, its first of the game, as part of an 8-0 run that made the score 64-63 at the 3:36 mark.
A jumper by Williams put Trine back out in front and was followed by a triple by Daniels and a bucket by Hunter to make the score, 70-64, in favor of the Thunder. The lead change would be the final one of the game as Trine led by as many as seven points down the stretch en route to the 77-73 final.
Trine will take on Adrian (Mich.) College tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 29) in the championship game of the MIAA Tournament. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Kresge Gymnasium on Albion's campus in Albion, Mich.