ANGOLA, IND. -- The Trine University men's basketball team improved to 11-0 following an 88-57 win against Alma (Mich.) College in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play at the MTI Center.
Trine (11-0, 2-0 MIAA) began the game by outscoring Alma (2-6, 0-2 MIAA), 11-4, in the first 5:07 of the opening half. The Scots then went on a 5-0 run to make it a one-possession game, 11-9, with 13:35 to go in the period.
The Thunder didn't give up the lead and tacked on six quick points to go up by a more comfortable eight points, 17-9. After a pair of Alma free-throws, a layup by junior Nick Bowman (Angola, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) on Trine's ensuing offensive possession began a 12-0 scoring run and put the Thunder in the driver's seat with an 18-point lead with 8:39 to go by a score of 29-11.
Alma later got to within 13 points, but that was as close as the Scots got the remainder of the half as a jumper by junior Brent Cox (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) and a three-pointer by junior Bryce Williams (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) extended the Trine lead back to 18 points which grew to 20-points just before the end of the period after a layup by Cox with 33 seconds left.
As time expired, Alma added a jumper to end the scoring, but Trine boasted an 18-point lead at halftime with a score of 43-25.
Nearing the mid-way point of the second half and leading by 17 points, a jumper by Cox began a string of 11 unanswered points and was the start of a larger 19-2 run as the advantage ballooned to 34 points, 71-37, at the 7:34 mark.
Trine went on to lead by as many as 35 points multiple times with the last one coming with just under a minute left in the game on a basket by junior Griffin Lorimer (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake). The Scots scored the final four points of the contest, but the Thunder came out on top in the end by the final of 88-57.
Bowman led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting (71.4 percent) and scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half. He also tallied game-highs of eight assists and seven steals. Sophomore Connor Jones (Danville, Ind./Danville) was second in scoring with 13 points and was followed by Williams with 12 points.
Cox finished the game with 10 points to round out the high scorers and also grabbed four rebounds to go along with two blocked shots. Freshman Emmanuel Mengnanglo (Cotonou, Benin/Amelia Academy) led the team in rebounding with six boards and tied Cox with a pair of blocks.
Defensively, Trine forced 29 Alma turnovers with led to 31 points. Additionally, the Thunder ended the night with 16 steals on defense.
Trine is scheduled to travel to Olivet, Mich. on Saturday (Feb. 13) for a matchup against Olivet College in a MIAA game. The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.