Trailing by as many as 21 points in the first half, the Anderson University men's basketball team (7-5, 5-0) came from behind to capture a 99-97 victory against rival Manchester University (6-6, 4-1) to grab hold of the sole lead in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) on Wednesday in North Manchester.

Anderson has put together the program's first 5-0 start in conference play since the 2009-10 season. During the 2009-10 season, the Ravens went 23-6 with a 13-3 conference record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Ravens lead the HCAC standings while the Spartans hold second place. Franklin College (7-5, 3-2), Hanover College (7-5, 3-2), Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (7-5, 3-2) and Mount St. Joseph University (4-7, 3-2) each are tied for third in the HCAC standings.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Spartans had built a 60-39 lead with 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining in the first half. Manchester entered halftime with a 60-41 lead.
• Anderson opened the second half with a 12-2 to cut the deficit to 62-53.
• The Spartans went ahead by as many as 15 points before the Ravens began to chip away.
• Trailing 94-83 with 4:51 left in the game, Anderson sparked a 12-0 run to take a 95-94 lead with 1:25 to go. The run was capped by three free throws from Elijah Mattingly.
• Manchester evened the game at 95-all after Zach Sawyer split a pair of free throws. Gavin Dowling split a pair of free throws on the next possession.
• Mitch Mendenhall knocked down two free throws with 59 seconds remaining to give Manchester a 97-96 lead. Dowling made a layup with 40 seconds to go put Anderson ahead 98-97.
• On the following possession, Manchester had three shot attempts to take the lead, but came up empty on each. Bryson Huckeby rebounded the third shot and was fouled. He split his pair of free throws.
• Down two points on the final possession, Manchester got one more opportunity to tie the game, but came up short.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• During the first half, Manchester drained 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) shots from 3-point range and 23-of-41 (56.1 percent) attempts from the field. Anderson converted 3-of-13 (23.1 percent) attempts from behind the arc and 16-of-30 (53.3 percent) shots from the floor.
• The Ravens converted 32-of-54 (59.3 percent) shots from the floor while the Spartans hit 37-of-78 (47.4 percent) attempts from the field.
• Anderson hit 28-of-42 (66.7 percent) shots from the free throw line while Manchester made 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.
• The Spartans drained 13-of-30 (43.3 percent) shots from the perimeter while the Ravens knocked down 7-of-20 (35 percent) attempts from behind the arc.

ANDERSON STAT LEADERS

• Camden Smith – 28 Points
• Tate Ivanyo – 24 Points, 10 Rebounds, 9/11 (81.8%) FT
• Jordan Gadis – 22 Points, 8/9 (88.9%) FG
• Gavin Dowling – 10 Points
• Bryson Huckeby – 6 Points
• Elijah Mattingly – 6 Points
• Fred Shropshire – 2 Points
• Alex Hunt – 1 Point

MANCHESTER STAT LEADERS

• Bryant Smith – 34 Points, 7/12 (58.3%) 3FG
• Ty Lynas – 23 Points, 7 Assists
• Zach Sawyer – 15 Points, 13 Rebounds, 7 Assists
• Quentez Columbus – 14 Points, 8 Assists, 3 Steals

COACH CARTER COLLINS'S COMMENTS

I couldn't be prouder of the team's perseverance in this one. We played awful during the first ten minutes of the game, and we found ourselves down by more than 20 late in the first half given the combination of our poor effort and some incredible shot making by Manchester. But, we were able to right the ship during halftime, and our effort improved dramatically in the second half. I still didn't necessarily know if we would be able to dig ourselves out of the hole we created in the first half, but we were able to make just enough plays down the stretch to claw all the way back, and finished it off with a couple of big stops. This is a really fun team to coach. Hopefully, we can still take the learning moments that this game provided to us, and use them to become a better team moving forward.

UP NEXT

The Ravens take on Franklin in HCAC action on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Franklin.