ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team battled back from an early deficit to defeat the Olivet College Comets by a score of 62-57. The Thunder held their opponents to just 20 second half points and secured 20 offensive rebounds to remain unbeaten at home this season.
The #20 Trine Thunder advance to 13-1 overall and 3-0 in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) games, while Olivet stumbles to 5-9 and 1-2 in the conference.
Aidan Smylie had this to say of the team's second half efforts, "We kept the ball out of the middle, rotated and rebounded after the missed shots. It felt good executing and getting the "dub."
The Thunder threw the first punch in the game with five points coming from an Emmanuel Megnanglo three and a Connor Jones lay-up. However, Olivet got a spark offensively from a highlight reel dunk that led to 14 consecutive points for the visitors. A Ryan Preston and-one stopped that with 13:41 to go in the first half, but at the time, the team was still trailing 14-8.
The lead ballooned to 11 before Megnanglo would take his turn making a shiny play. His dunk just over halfway through the first provided life inside the MTI Center, but once again the Comets withstood the Trine run and used momentum themselves to take a 37-30 lead into the locker room. Grant Pahl and Nate Carbaugh knocked down a pair of three's to cut into the Olivet advantage late in the period.
It was nearly five minutes into the second half until a pair of free throws resulted in points for the Comets, but Jones and Brent Cox had already scored a field goal each to get back within one possession. A lay-up by Jones off the steal by Megnanglo tied the contest at 39 with 13:46 to go.
The point of emphasis for the Thunder on the offensive glass would prove fruitful to give the team the lead at 44-41 when Megnanglo converted an and-one after collecting his own miss. Smylie extended the lead to 46-41 off the steal by Pahl with eight minutes and change remaining.
Cox gave Trine their largest lead of the night with 3:52 on the clock when his jumper put the home team ahead 54-46. At that point, the Thunder had only surrendered nine points in the first 16 minutes of play in the second half. Olivet would show grit with makes from long range, three of which helped the Comets get all the way back to within one at 58-57 with 42 seconds left.
Head Coach Brooks Miller called a timeout to organize his team for their final offensive possession. Jones drove the lane and his miss was collected by Carbaugh and then another offensive board by Smylie, which forced Olivet to foul and hope for a miss at the charity stripe. Cox was the man at the line and he buried both to put Trine up three at 60-57 with four seconds to go. A turnover and foul would allow Cox to hit two more from the free throw line and seal the 62-57 win.
The Thunder took 70 shots in the game compared to the Comets' 46. Even though Olivet made 50.0% of their tries, a 43-30 difference on the glass and 20 on the offensive end gave Trine so many more opportunities to score in a matchup where points were hard to come by. The Thunder had 15 second chance points and 22 off of opposing turnovers.
Jones led the way with 20 points, while Smylie had seven points and a team-high 11 rebounds and four steals. Megnanglo tied the school's NCAA DIII record with his 121st block in the second half of play Wednesday. Cox and Megnanglo had an even statline of 12 points and seven rebounds apiece.
The Thunder travel to Kalamazoo College on Saturday, January 14 for their next MIAA game. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
