ANGOLA, Ind. – In their first of two games in the St. Andrews Products Classic, the Trine University men's basketball team was able to defeat Mount St. Joseph University, 65-48. The Thunder used a diverse attack offensively with five different student-athletes in double figures, led by senior Brent Cox with 16 points.
As a team, Trine shot 52.9% from the field at 27-for-51 overall. It is the second straight game in which the Thunder set a new season-high in shooting percentage. The win makes Trine 8-1 overall on the season and the loss for the Lions plummets them to 2-8 in the 2022-23 season.
The Thunder got off to a hot start with field goals by Cox and sophomore Aidan Smylie from distance to claim a 5-0 edge. Mount St. Joseph continued to battle and eventually took the lead on the back of some three-point shooting. Senior Connor Jones was able to counter with a make from deep himself to make it 13-13 at the 12-minute mark in the first half.
Once again, makes from behind the three-point arc allowed the Lions to get ahead offensively and their largest lead of the afternoon came at 23-17 with five minutes to play in the first half. A timeout by the Thunder would help them to regain their composure for the closing minutes of play. Cox fueled an 8-2 run with an and-one while Smylie and senior Nate Carbaugh contributed to the scoring as well in that span.
In the final two minutes, Trine scored six in a row to put themselves ahead 33-29 at the halftime break. That run was highlighted by a steal and dunk from junior Emmanuel Megnanglo in transition. The Thunder made more than half of their attempts from the field, but five makes from deep by Mount St. Joseph kept them close.
Sophomore Grant Pahl found Cox for a three coming out of the locker room as the senior netted five straight to start for Trine. A pair of steals with 12 minutes to go by Megnanglo and Pahl allowed the home team to get easy scores, including another highlight reel dunk from the big man that led to a timeout by MSJ. Back-to-back threes by the Lions tied the game at 42 and the Thunder took a timeout to counter.
For the third time, Megnanglo was able to get loose in the open court and sour for a dunk, this one would give Trine the lead for good in the contest. Carbaugh delivered on consecutive possessions to make it 49-43 Thunder with eight minutes remaining. Three-point makes by Jones and Smylie helped to extend the lead to double digits late in the game.
The final eight points of the game belonged to Trine – including a dunk by Cox, two makes inside by Megnanglo and junior Cameron Awls distributing an assist to Pahl for the game's final bucket at 65-48.
Cox (16), Megnanglo (13), Smylie (11), Carbaugh (10) and Jones (10) were in double figures scoring for the Thunder. Megnanglo and Carbaugh crashed the boards effectively for eight and five rebounds, respectively. "Every day I come with a mindset that I have to play hard and offensive rebound," Carbaugh said postgame. "After halftime, we tried to limit their attempts from three and keep them out of the middle, those adjustments helped a lot."
The Thunder won the turnover battle 16-10, held a 29-22 advantage on the glass and had six blocked shots.
The St. Andrews Products Classic concludes tomorrow afternoon when Trine hosts Lawrence University beginning at 2 p.m.