ALBION, Mich. – About the only thing melting Saturday was Albion's second half lead. Like the banks of snow lining the roads here, Albion had piled up enough of a lead to hold on for a 68-65 victory over Trine in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's basketball contest.

Jordan Herron and Zach Hurth sparked an 11-2 run as Albion forged a 57-42 lead with 11 minutes remaining.

While scoring became difficult for Albion the rest of the way, the Britons maintained an eight point lead as the clock wound down under five minutes left.

"With about seven or eight minutes left we started struggling," Albion Coach Jody May said. "It's a good thing we had a cushion. We really had to grind that one out."

Todd Watkins helped Trine hang around, scoring eight of his 10 points in a five-minute span. His dunk brought Trine within six, 62-56, with 4 ½ minutes to play. The Thunder whittled the margin down to four when Tyler Good knocked down a shot in the lane with 2:40 on the clock.

Albion looked as if it had staved off the Trine rally behind a basket by Lawrence Ridgell and a pair of free throws by Dakota Kazen. The Britons led 66-58 with 1:09 remaining.

"We need to start hitting our free-throws but we did a good job getting to the line," May said. "We're starting to get more aggressive, starting to attack the basket, but I'd still like to see more kick-outs when it gets clogged, maybe some more ball movement." 

Trine was a formidable opponent, however, and Will Dixon and Tyler Good scored baskets as the Thunder carved the margin to three with 18 seconds left. A pair of free throw misses gave the Thunder the ball with a chance to forge a tie in the final 18 seconds, but they were unable to get a shot off.

Albion played only eight players in the game, but the reserves came through by producing 21 points. Hurth knocked down all four of his shots from the field as he chipped in with 13, his highest point total against a MIAA rival this season. Travell Oakes contributed six, scoring on 2-of-3 shots from the field.

"We can get a solid performance out of anyone on any night," May said. "That's who Albion is, and it's what makes us difficult to scout."

Herron led the starting unit with 15, and Ridgell added 10.

Dixon and Good combined for 45 points for Trine.

Albion, winners of four straight to remain tied with the MIAA leaders, have forced a first place showdown with Calvin College Wednesday night inside Kresge Gymnasium. The game follows a 6 o'clock women's game between Albion and Calvin.

"I'm really happy for our guys," May said about being 5-1 in league play. "But it's a 14-step process, and this will be the 7th step. I knew we had the potential to be where we're at but I also knew we had a lot of improvements to make early on. We need to keep making progress and we need to be consistent."