ANGOLA, Ind. - A late second half surge by the Trine University men's basketball team allowed them to hold onto a 66-58 win over Kalamazoo College. With the win, the Thunder hold down third place in the conference with a record of 5-3 and an overall record of 12-7.
The first half saw a true back-and-forth battle as there were eight tie scores and eight lead changes. Trine's biggest lead of the half came early on as sophomore Chris Kent (Angola, Ind./Angola) hit a layup four minutes in to give the Thunder a 9-6 lead. Trine would again lead by three with five minutes left as freshman Braden Knight (Bedford, Ind./Bedford North Lawrence) scored on the fast break.
Kalamazoo never led by more than two points, leading 27-25 with under a minute to go in the half. With six seconds to go, junior Scott Rogers (Waterford, Mich./Kettering) grabbed the defensive rebound off a Hornets miss and took the ball the length of the court scoring the layup as the buzzer sounded.
The Hornets scrambled out to an early second half lead at 35-31, four minute into the period. The two sides would battle it out over several minutes as neither team was able to pull ahead. With the score tied at 40 and 12 minutes to go, a three by Knight gave the Thunder the lead for good. Kalamazoo would pull within one on their next possession, but that would be a close as they would get. Trine was able to answer each time the Hornets would score, not allowing them to cut into the lead.
Rogers would hit a layup with just under six minutes to go to give the Thunder a seven point lead at 55-48. The Hornets were only able to score one point in the final two minutes as the Trine lead was too much to overcome.
Rogers led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Rogers also pulled down seven rebounds to go along with three steals. Junior Ian Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) added in 14 points and four assists. Knight picked up a game-high five steals to go along with 10 points. Kent led the Thunder with eight rebounds and a game-high five assists. Trine was without senior Tim Pearcy for most of the second half after picking up his fourth personal foul with 12 minutes to go.
Trine made 86.7 percent (13-of-15) from the free throw line including hitting 91 percent in the second half while Kalamazoo made just 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from the line. The two sides shot identical 11-of-24 from the field in the first half.
Trine will next travel to Alma on February 1 for a 7:30 p.m. game.