Men’s basketball team comes up just short at Trine, 73-71

ANGOLA, Ind. – The Olivet College men's basketball team was on the losing end of a close 73-71 score to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) co-leader Trine (Ind.) University this evening at the MTI Center.

Final Score: Trine (Ind.) 73, Olivet 71
Location: MTI Center; Angola, Indiana
Records: Trine 11-5 overall, 5-0 MIAA; Olivet 4-12 overall, 1-4 MIAA

• The Comets led by five points, 10-5, at the 14:36 mark of the opening half. The Thunder answered with an 8-0 run to take their first lead in the game. Trine pushed its lead to nine points, 19-10, with 10:49 remaining in the half. Olivet closed the gap to three points on three occasions. The last time was 35-32 at halftime.
• The Thunder extended their lead to nine points, 41-32, at the 17:13 mark of the second half. The Comets battled back and trailed by two points, 51-49, with 11:10 left in the game. Trine came back with a 13-6 run to stretch its advantage back to nine points, 64-55. Olivet countered with an 11-0 scoring spurt over the next two and one-half minutes to take a 66-64 lead.
• The Thunder score the next three points to go ahead 67-66. Olivet re-gained the lead on a layup by junior Chris Martin. Trine scored four straight points for another three-point lead, 71-68. Junior Shawn Pardee drained a three-pointer from the top of the arc to level the score at 71-all with 19.6 seconds remaining. Langston Johnson canned two free throws with 4.5 seconds left to win the game.
• For the game, Olivet made one more basket and one more three-pointer than the Thunder. The difference in the game was Trine made 14 free throws compared to nine for the Comets.

• Pardee scored a team-best 22 points, with four baskets from behind the three-point arc.
• Martin added 11 points.
• Junior Eddie Thigpen contributed 10 points.
• Thigpen and freshman Britton Angell each grabbed eight rebounds.

• Johnson led all players with 25 points.
• Marcus Winters and Maurice Hunter finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
• Hunter pulled down eight rebounds.                                                                                                                                   

• The Comets travel to play Adrian College Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.