GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Trine University men's basketball team was defeated for just the third time this season 67-56 at Calvin University on Saturday afternoon. The 21st-ranked Thunder traveled to face a 13th-ranked Knights team on the road to enter into a tie for the lead in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings, but to no avail. Trine will need two wins next week and two losses by Calvin to tie for the regular season title.
The Knights remain unbeaten in MIAA play at 12-0 and are 20-3 overall. The Thunder are also 20-3 overall this season, but two losses have come in conference play to Calvin (10-2).
The starting bigs Emmanuel Megnanglo and Brent Cox tallied all nine points for Trine in the first six minutes of action on the court, highlighted by a three-point make from Megnanglo. At that point, the Thunder led 9-8, but a basket by Grant Pahl extended the lead to 11-8 through seven minutes.
A pair of free throws by Nate Carbaugh and a jump shot by Cox gave Trine their largest lead of the game at 15-10 with 11 minutes left in the first half. An 8-0 run by the Knights swung the momentum back in favor of the home team. A timeout was effective in stalling out Calvin, as Connor Jones and Ryan Preston had makes to enter into a tie at 20.
A massive 16-point explosion for the Knights ballooned the lead all the way to 16 with under two minutes remaining in the period. Seven of the final eight points in the first half were scored by the Thunder to get back to within 10 at the half, 37-27. An impressive 61.5% (16-of-26) performance from the field for Calvin allowed them to get ahead.
Preston capped a 6-0 run coming out of the locker room for Trine to get the 16-point deficit at one time down to four. Just as quickly as it was worked down to single digits, the Knights found their groove once more with a 13-3 run that lasted over six minutes of game time. Aidan Smylie buried a three to stop the dry spell on offense with 11 minutes to play.
The scoring was mostly done by Cox and Smylie late in the ballgame, but the Thunder were unable to get stops defensively to mount a comeback. Cameron Awls, who played bulk minutes at the guard spot, knocked down a jump shot to conclude the 67-56 matchup of nationally-ranked teams.
Calvin dominated the painted area of the floor by a margin of 40-18 and shot 55.3% (26-for-47) in the game. Trine on the other hand was held to 39.6% (21-for-53) in the game. Cox was the lone man in double figures scoring with 19 points. Smylie and Preston brought down six rebounds each to tie for the team lead. Jones dished out four assists on a day where 16 of the 21 made field goals had help.
The Thunder will be inside the MTI Center for the final two regular season games, beginning on Wednesday, February 15 with Kalamazoo College. That game begins at 7 p.m.