ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team celebrated their three senior student-athletes in Nate Carbaugh, Brent Cox and Connor Jones on Saturday afternoon in the team's regular season finale. The Thunder were able to defeated the Adrian College Bulldogs 86-48 to place second in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings with a 22-3 record, 12-2 in conference play.
After Calvin University defeated Albion College, Trine has secured the second spot in the upcoming MIAA Tournament. The Thunder will travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the event on Friday, February 24 for the event and the team awaits their opponent in the MIAA Tournament Semifinal Round.
The trio of seniors started the game alongside Ryan Preston and Aidan Smylie. The Thunder used a massive first half scoring run to put the game out of reach shortly after the opening tip. Jones knocked down a pair of free throws to open the scoring and the Bulldogs countered with a basket two minutes into the period, but from there it was nearly 12 minutes of scoreless basketball for Adrian.
During that time, Trine scored 28 consecutive points to balloon the advantage to 30-2. The Thunder defense forced 14 straight misses by the Bulldogs and nine turnovers during the scoring spree. Steals led to easy layups and dunks for Trine as they ran the floor with ease and simple outpaced Adrian early on. Grant Pahl, Emmanuel Megnanglo and Cameron Awls were especially prevalent off the bench during this stretch.
A jump shot by Carbaugh made it 37-7 with just under five minutes left and a timeout by head coach Brooks Miller allowed the team to catch their breath and settle back in on the defensive end of the floor after Adrian was able to take the lid off the basket. Trine outscored the Bulldogs 11-8 out of the break thanks to a pair of dunks by Cox to take a 48-18 lead into the locker room.
The second half was much more even between the two teams, but the result was well in hand at that point. A consistent presence in the paint helped manufacture points for the home team. In total, the Thunder brought down 10 offensive rebounds in the second half alone, where Nate Tucker and Logan Gard had three apiece. Tucker had a team-high nine points in the second half of play Saturday.
With 7:16 to go in the contest, the senior class representatives left the floor inside the MTI Center for the final time in their careers to a standing ovation. Cox tallied a new career-high with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and secured six rebounds. Jones added 12 points and Carbaugh six in the 86-48 victory.
In total, the team shot 58.3% (35-for-60) and kept Adrian at 31.5% (17-for-54). The Thunder outrebounded their opponents 42-26, won points off of turnovers 27-16, and tallied 48 paint points compared to 18 for the Bulldogs.
Up next for Trine men's basketball is the MIAA Tournament. Stay tuned to www.trinethunder.com for updates and information regarding next weekend's event.
