ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team used a stellar second half defensively to down the Kalamazoo College Hornets 60-45 on Saturday afternoon in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) action.
The Thunder (10-5, 3-1 MIAA) held the Hornets (4-11, 1-3 MIAA) to just 16 second half points after entering the locker room tied at 29. Kalamazoo shot just 33.3% for the game (16-for-48) and had just five made field goals in half number two.
Trine fell behind 8-0 in the first 3:30 of play, resulting in a timeout called by the home team. Emmanuel Megnanglo [Cotonou, Benin / Amelia Academy] found Nick Bowman [Angola, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern] on an offensive rebound for three to get the Thunder on the board nearly five minutes in.
"Emmanuel, he had six offensive rebounds, scored on one of them and had two assists for three's," Head Coach Brooks Miller said of his sophomore forward postgame. "Those are significant and demoralizing. They did a good job guarding us a few times and Emmanuel gets an offensive rebound and kicks it out."
Both teams struggled to find points in the middle stages of the half, but Brent Cox [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] free throws and a jumper by Bowman brought Trine to within a field goal, 17-14.
Kalamazoo extended the lead back to seven with less than five minutes remaining, but Bryce Williams [Archbold, Ohio / Archbold] found a cutting Megnanglo for a dunk and hit a three-point shot on the next possession to get the deficit down to two.
Aiden Warzecha [Milford, Mich. / Milford] connected from deep to give the Thunder their first lead of the game, but it would be short lived in the opening stanza. The Hornets came out of a timeout and hit three's on back-to-back possessions. Bowman would play hero to wrap up the period with a shot from long range as time expired to tie the game at 29.
Coming out of the locker room, Trine scored the first 10 points and held Kalamazoo without a score for nearly seven minutes of on-court action. Rilye Cox [Plymouth, Ind. / La Ville] put his name in the scoring column with a wing three from Warzecha during the scoring spurt.
Williams continued to stay hot in his second straight game crossing the 20-point plateau and buried two more from deep to give the Thunder a 47-34 lead with 11 minutes left. Bowman took a steal at the top of the key the other way for a dunk to keep the advantage at 13 with just over five minutes to go.
Another Williams three from Grant Pahl [Sylvania, Ohio / Southview] gave Trine their largest lead of the game 59-41 and the Thunder would hold for the 60-45 victory.
Senior Griffin Lorimer [Spring Lake, Mich. / Spring Lake] explained how the defense was able to clean things up after halftime, "We were flying out there (to shooters). We allowed them to shoot 17 three's in the first half and that's not good enough for us. We made sure to discourage those shots."
Williams led all scorers with 20 while Bowman and Brent Cox each finished in double figures at 15 and 10. Warzecha was all over the floor. He scored five points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out six assists.
The grind that is the conference slate continues for Trine men's basketball on Wednesday, January 19 at home versus Alma College. Tip-off is set for 7:30 pm.