Box Score

CINCINNATI, Ohio - Transylvania put the defensive clamps on Mt. St. Joseph Wednesday and took a 53-44 win in Heartland Conference men's basketball play.

The HCAC-leading Pioneers are 14-2, 8-1 in conference play, while the Lions fall to 6-10, 2-7 HCAC. The game marked the half-way point of the conference season.

The Pioneers held the Lions to just four of 22 shooting (18 percent) in the first half, and zoomed to a 26-11 cushion at intermission. Transy, which got eight points from Ethan Spurlin and six from Brandon Rash, was eight of 21 from the field, which included a three of 15 effort from behind the arc.

Mt. St. Joseph was equally cold from long range, connecting on one of 10 tries.

Transy's halftime advantage was its biggest of the game to that point. The Pioneers would lead by as many as 20 in the second half, but the Lions warmed up, out-scoring Transy 33-27 over the final 20 minutes.

Rash finished with 18 points to pace the Pioneers, hitting all four of his field goal attempts and going 10 of 12 from the free throw line. He also had four rebounds. Spurlin, the current HCAC player of the Week, tallied 12 points while Barrett Meyer contributed seven points and five rebounds.

David Mann's 11 points and nine rebounds led the home team, which finished the contest shooting 29 percent from the field (13 of 44). Transy connected at a 39 percent success rate (13 of 33), including four of 19 from long range. Transy won the game at the line, canning 23 of 30 compared to 13 of 20 for former Transy assistant Toby Carrigan's squad.

Transy led wire-to-wire with the margin reaching its zenith at 20 points with just over 10 minutes to play. Mt. St. Joseph had a 31-28 edge on the boards and committed 18 turnovers to 16 for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers remain on the road for their next outing, a 4 p.m. matchup Saturday with Anderson.