ALBION, Mich. – The Trine University men's basketball team, ranked 11th in NCAA DIII, defeated Albion College in a road game on Saturday 76-54 for their sixth consecutive win. The Thunder remain undefeated in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play at 4-0 and are 14-1 on the year. The Britons fall to 7-8 overall and 1-3 inside the conference.
A pair of three-point makes by Aidan Smylie put Trine up 8-4 in the first few minutes of the game, but by the eight-minute mark into the first half, Albion was able to claim the lead at 15-14. Cortez Garland buried a shot from deep to give the Thunder the lead once again and Nate Tucker helped to spark a big run for the visitors.
Brent Cox hit a layup to break the 22-22 stalemate and that led to a 15-5 scoring run to gain a double-digit lead at 37-27 with 4:16 remaining in the period. Fred Garland and Logan McKenzie scored late in the first to make it 42-34 Thunder at the halfway point.
The Trine defense in the second half would thwart off a rally by the Britons after Albion was contained to just 20 points on 25.0% (6-of-24) from the field. The Britons went without a three-point make in six attempts in the second half.
The team went right away to Emmanuel Megnanglo inside for a dunk on the first possession of the second half. The first seven points belonged to the Thunder to go up 49-34 in the opening minutes.
Trine would methodically continue to build their lead and back-to-back makes by Cortez Garland raised the lead to 19 with ten minutes left to play, 59-40. Smylie scored the next seven Thunder points himself to give the team an even larger lead.
Evan Lumbrezer found McKenzie inside for two to give the team their largest lead of the night at 76-51 prior to Albion scoring the final three points in the 76-54 ballgame.
Smylie led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and four makes from downtown. Fred Garland (15) and Cortez Garland (12) were also in double figures. Cox had a great overall game with six points, five rebounds and six assists. Tucker was the leader off the bench with eight points. In total, the team shot 50.0% (31-for-62) from the field.
Trine returns home to face Adrian College on Wednesday, January 17. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.