ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team secured their largest margin of victory in the 2021-22 season thus far over Concordia University Chicago on Thursday evening with a 32-point win, 88-56 inside MTI Center. The Thunder will enter Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) action next week with a 7-4 record.
Trine netted 88 points on 63.5% (33-for-52) shooting, season-highs in both categories. The Thunder forced 18 Cougar turnovers en route to sending Concordia Chicago home with a 3-6 record.
Aiden Warzecha [Milford, Mich. / Milford] stuffed the stat sheet with a team-high in points (16) and rebounds (8) on 6-of-7 shooting with three assists and three steals.
On the first two possessions of the game, Trine scored with a three-point basket from Hayden Jones [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] and a dunk by Brent Cox [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] after Bryce Williams [Archbold, Ohio / Archbold] found the junior on a cut.
The Cougars fought early and took a slight lead at 8-7, but Nick Bowman [Angola, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern] knocked down a pair at the free throw line and Concordia Chicago only held the lead for 29 seconds on the game clock. The freebies sparked a 15-0 run that widened the gap for the home team.
The defense held the Cougars scoreless for nearly six minutes during the scoring stretch and forced five turnovers and four misses. A steal and dunk by Bowman made it 24-10 at the halfway point in the first period.
Trine took their largest first half lead with 6:21 remaining in the half at 37-12 following a Brent Cox lay-up. Cox and Warzecha scored 10 apiece to pace the Thunder in a 47-25 first half. Trine was able to score 19 points on 13 Cougar turnovers, while having only two miscues on the offensive end in the opening stanza.
"We knew coming into this game we needed to limit turnovers, we did a great job of that in the first half," Warzecha commented postgame. "You can't let a team that builds off of steals and turnovers to go the other way for points. We were able to keep our turnovers low and created some on the other end."
Warzecha, Grant Pahl [Sylvania, Ohio / Southview] and Williams all connected on shots from long range early in the second half. Williams found Emmanuel Megnanglo [Cotonou, Benin / Amelia Academy] inside for a rim-rattling dunk to give Trine a 60-31 advantage just over five minutes into the second half.
Megnanglo would strike once again with a dunk off a feed from Bowman halfway through the second. The largest lead of the game came a few moments later with a Williams three-point field goal to make it 71-39 with 9:44 left.
Rilye Cox [Plymouth, Ind. / La Ville] put his name in the scoring column with a putback lay-up at the five-minute mark and finished with four points and four rebounds. "He (Cox) has a tremendous attitude and is one of the best teammates," Head Coach Brooks Miller stated of the freshman. "It raises the level of the group. He comes with a smile on his face every day and I think you saw that in his play tonight."
Ryan Preston [Fort Wayne, Ind. / Carroll] was another entrant into the game for the Thunder that scored on his only field goal attempt and dished out assists to Aidan Smylie [Franklin, Tenn. / Franklin] for his first career points and a steal and full court pass to Rilye Cox for a dunk to seal the 88-56 victory.
Along with Warzecha's 16, Bowman (15), Megnanglo (12) and Brent Cox (12) all were in double figures scoring. Pahl played 19 minutes off the bench, the most of any non-starter, and held a 13 plus-minus. Trine outrebounded their opposition 34-28, with Brent Cox pulling down seven total and three on the offensive end. Bowman dished out a team-high five assists.
The Thunder begin conference play on the road at Hope College on Wednesday, January 5. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 pm.