KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Trine University men's basketball team overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Kalamazoo College 77-73 for their eighth consecutive win. The 20th-ranked Thunder are 14-1 overall and remain unbeaten in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) games at 4-0, while Kalamazoo drops to 3-12 and 1-3.
During the game, junior Emmanuel Megnanglo became the program's NCAA DIII era career blocks leader. Megnanglo turned away a shot with 13:53 to play in the second half to secure the mark.
Aidan Smylie started the scoring in the game with a three-point field goal just over two minutes into the first half. Connor Jones and Ryan Preston followed that up with makes from inside the arc, but a slow start for the visitors put them in a 19-7 hole a little over seven minutes in.
The scoring remained diversified as Megnanglo, Nate Carbaugh, Cameron Awls and Grant Pahl all got on the board, but Kalamazoo was able to extend their lead to 14 at 29-15 through 12 minutes of play.
The team's leading scorers in Jones and Brent Cox took over the game from there and sparked a run late in the period. The duo combined for 13 points in a five-minute stretch to make it a one-possession game, 31-28. Carbaugh knocked down a three-point field goal to put a stop to a nearly three-minute scoreless stretch with under 60 seconds remaining to go into the locker room trailing 36-31.
Megnanglo came off the bench in the second half, but made an impact immediately once stepping on the floor. He had a steal for two points the other way, a breakaway dunk that created a wave of momentum. It helped ignite a 17-3 scoring run that was punctuated by a Cox dunk in the half court to give the Thunder a second half lead at 48-43.
Jones traded three-point plays with the Hornets around the halfway point in the second, but Kalamazoo would scratch and claw their way back to even at 60 with less than five minutes remaining. Trine called a timeout to regroup for the finish of the contest.
Coming out of the break, the Thunder had points on four of their next five possessions to claim a 69-63 advantage. From there, the Hornets would play the free throw game and force Trine to beat them from the charity stripe. After a strong first half at the line, the Thunder struggled late and that allowed Kalamazoo to get scores and mount a comeback.
With five seconds left, the Hornets were back to within two at 74-72. A foul on Cox put the senior on the line to seal the game. After leaving one on the table, Trine fouled strategically so that Kalamazoo could not get a three-point attempt up. The shooter intentionally missed to try to get an offensive rebound for a chance at a tie, but a violation gave the ball back to the Thunder. Cox received the inbounds and was fouled once again and hit both to go ahead 77-73.
Trine had 46 points in the second half to stay unbeaten in conference play. Jones (27 points), Cox (22 points) and Megnanglo (11 points) were double-figure scorers. The Thunder scored 22 points off of 14 Kalamazoo turnovers while committing only nine miscues themselves.
The men's basketball team remains in the Mitten State on Wednesday, January 17 at Alma College. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.