ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team opened up the MTI Center for the 2023-24 season with another dominant win, this time a 79-58 triumph over Franklin College. The victory puts the Thunder at 3-0 to start the year while the Grizzlies are now 1-2 overall.
Thursday was a special night for multiple reasons, the first being honoring the late Coach Bob Knight with "Thank You Knight." The team honored his legacy with t-shirts during warmups, the coaching staff dawning his signature sweaters and a pregame video with moments from his speech at the 125th Trine University Commencement ceremony. Along with honoring Coach Knight, Head Coach Brooks Miller acquired his 200th career coaching win at the helm of the men's basketball program at Trine.
The Thunder were led on offense by junior Fred Garland with 20 points on 9-of-13 from the floor and he added five rebounds as well. Trine was on fire from the field as a whole at 31-of-58 (53.4%) and had 19 assists, paced by junior Aidan Smylie with six and sophomore Nate Tucker with five. Protecting the rim, senior Emmanuel Megnanglo had five blocks in the contest.
The first three baskets by the Thunder all came off of feeds by Smylie. Senior Brent Cox buried a shot from deep, then rocked the rim with a dunk and Fred Garland was the recipient of a pass by Smylie off a steal that resulted in a fast break bucket to make it 8-3 in favor of the home squad. Franklin chipped away and cut the lead down to 12-11 nearly eight minutes into the period, but a three-point make by junior Drew Moore extended the advantage.
Senior Cortez Garland got in on the scoring for Trine around the halfway point in the first half before Smylie had the highlight reel play of the game with a massive dunk to make it 24-15 with 9:15 to play in the half. Smylie furthered the lead to double figures a few moments later and gave the team their largest lead of the first when sophomore Hayden Jones found him inside for a layup at 42-27. The half came to a close at 42-29.
13 of the 18 first half baskets had an assists attached to their name and the Thunder held an 11-3 difference on points coming from turnovers. Trine also outscored Franklin in the paint in the first half by a mark of 28-10.
The teams traded three-point makes coming out of the locker room, but the momentum would swing heavily in favor of the Thunder off of a dunk by Megnanglo at 51-35. From there, Trine went on a 13-0 run that spanned six minutes of game time. The Grizzlies finally put a stop to the scoring run at the halfway mark in the second half, but the damage was already done with the Thunder cruising ahead 62-37.
One more player would get in on the high-flying action as Fred Garland rose up for a tomahawk jam to punctuate his 20-point outing coming off a feed by sophomore Logan McKenzie. Senior Cameron Awls buried free throws in the closing minutes to secure the 79-58 victory inside the MTI Center.
It is a quick turnaround for Trine as they host Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday, November 18 beginning at 2 p.m. It is the first of a three-game day inside the MTI Center with the women's basketball team hosting the Cameron Memorial Classic later that night.