CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. – In the opening game of the 2022 Great Lakes Invitational, the Trine University men's basketball team came from behind to defeat Benedictine University by a score of 59-57. Benedictine led for 32 of the 40 minutes, but a clutch three-point field goal by senior forward Brent Cox with just over one minute remaining gave the team the lead to punctuate the victory.
The win pushes the Trine record to 3-0 in the 2022-23 season and the Eagles of Benedictine are off to a slow 0-3 start this year.
"We hung in there when we would get the lead in the second half and they would come right out of a timeout and get a big bucket," Head coach Brooks Miller said in the postgame press conference. "Brent's big three was really significant. We're really proud of the effort and finding a way to get out of there with the win."
Connor Jones got the game started with a made jump shot and found Cox for a layup in the opening minutes, but from there Benedictine would take control of the game for the rest of the first half. The Eagles utilized a 7-0 run to claim the lead.
Emmanuel Megnanglo continued to show improvement from beyond the arc with a make from long range, but Benedictine did the same on their offensive end of the floor to go up 17-9 at the under-12 media timeout.
With the score at 21-12 Benedictine, both teams would struggle to find success shooting the basketball. From 10:06 to 6:39, neither team was able to put any points on the board. A three-point field goal by Cox would end the drought.
A few trips down the floor later, Nate Carbaugh made a layup to inch closer, but success from deep helped keep the Eagles in front. A Jackson Jannsen three and old fashioned three-point play by Cameron Awls highlighted the end of the first half with the score 26-25 in favor of Benedictine.
The teams continued to play one another close in half number two, with the defense being prevalent once again. Both teams went scoreless in the first two minutes of the second before the Eagles were able to convert on a mid-range jump shot. Once again, it was a 7-0 run for Benedictine that kept the team in front, but Ryan Preston and Grant Pahl each made jump shots to bring Trine to within one possession without Cox, who was in foul trouble.
An and-one by Jannsen pushed the Thunder over the hump to take a 38-37 advantage, but a three on the other end turned the game right back to the Eagles. Down five with just under four minutes left, a timeout would provide the spark the team needed on both ends of the floor.
A pair of free throws by Jones opened the door for Trine to go on a 6-0 run on the backs of their leading scorers with two minutes to play. Jones and Cox each had a basket in the run and Cox buried the three-point field goal coming out of a timeout to take a 57-55 lead. Despite some missed free throws, the defense stood tall late to seal the win at 59-57.
"At the end, we were still down and it would have been easy for us to give up or think negatively, but we all wanted to pull off the win and made it happen," Cox mentioned during the media availability. "Bad things are going to happen during a game and we need to block it out and focus on what we need to do to get back on top on the scoreboard."
The teams made 22 field goals apiece, but nine of those came from three-point range for Benedictine compared to just four for Trine. The Thunder held a slight edge on rebounds at 33-31, with Megnanglo leading the way with 11. It is his third consecutive game with double-digit boards. Jones was responsible for six of the team's 10 assists on the afternoon.
Game two for Trine at the Great Lakes Invitational, hosted by Wabash College, will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon against the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.