ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team won their third game in a row on Tuesday night 75-67 over Benedictine University out of Illinois.
The Thunder are 3-0 on the young season, while the Eagles of Benedictine fall to 1-2.
Mitchell Geller [Huntington, Ind. / Huntington North] was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time in the 2021-22 season to guard one of the most talented offensive players on the Eagles, Trevor Montiel. Right away, Geller made an impact with the first basket of the game.
Trine made the first run of the night with a Connor Jones [Danville, Ind. / Danville] jump shot, Nick Bowman [Angola, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern] steal and dunk, and Brent Cox [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] three-point field goal with Benedictine turnovers in between.
Benedictine clawed there way back to tie the game at 13 near the halfway point in the first period. A pair of blocks on the defensive end of the floor by Emmanuel Megnangelo [Cotonou, Benin / Amelia Academy] kept the Eagles off the board.
Another shot turned away by Megnangelo sparked a three on the other end by the freshman Hayden Jones [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] and Bowman rocked the rim once again to put the Thunder up 22-20 with just over five minutes to play in the first.
The number seven team in NCAA DIII took a slim 27-25 lead into the locker room. The defense held Benedictine to 37.0% (10-for-27) from the field in the first.
The Eagles came out of the locker room and regained control of the lead in the first two minutes of the half, but a 15-0 run by Trine really put the pressure on the road team to play in a hostile environment in the MTI Center for the remainder of the evening. The Thunder never looked back after taking a 44-32 advantage with under 15 to go.
Benedictine got it down to as few as two points with 11 minutes remaining, but an and-one by Connor Jones on the fastbreak allowed Trine to seize momentum.
Aiden Warzecha [Milford, Mich. / Milford] scored five points late in the game to keep a comfortable cushion of a lead, 67-61. From there, it was a rim-rocking dunk by Geller and a critical charge taken by Hayden Jones to foul out Montiel that contributed to the 75-67 victory.
"(Taking charges) is something we stressed this week in practice," Jones mentioned postgame. "It's physical. We put our bodies on the line because we want to win that badly."
The Thunder were able to display just how physical play was this evening by visiting the free throw line twice as much as their opponents (26-13). Trine was able to get a hand on seven shots for blocks, the most in a game this season.
In just the third game of his career, Hayden Jones notched a double-figure scoring night with 10 points and a perfect shooting night from the field. He was one of five scorers with 10 or more points. Bowman led the Thunder with 15 on the night, with the trio of post players in Megnangelo, Geller and Brent Cox all tied with 10 as well.
Megnangelo led the team with seven rebounds, including four on the offensive glass, four steals and four blocked shots.
Trine's next game will come on the road in southeast Ohio. The Thunder visit Muskingum University for a 1 pm tip-off on Saturday, November 20.