Box Score Marauders prove to be too much for Trojans of TreveccaWilberforce, OH – Playing in front of a full crowd in Beacom/Lewis Gymnasium on Thursday night, the Central State men's basketball team defeated conference opponent Trevecca Nazarene, 71-62.
With the win, CSU upped its G-MAC record to 2-1 and are now 9-6 on the season heading into Saturday's matchup against perennial conference power Kentucky Wesleyan.
Coming off their largest win of the season in a 22 point blowout at Davis & Elkins, the CSU shooters picked off where they left off, going 4 for 7 from beyond the arc in the first ten minutes as CSU led by as many as 14 midway through the period. TNU fought all the way back thanks to a 16-2 run to tie the game (32-32) with 2:38 to go in the first. CSU reserves
Hosie Smith Jr. and
Dymiere Finch led CSU on a 7-0 run to close the half. Smith Jr. hit a contested layup and ignited the crowd with a dunk. Finch hit a 3 pointer as time expired to put his team up 39-32.
CSU maintained its lead throughout the duration of the second half. Despite a poor 11 for 25 performance from the free throw line in the second half, the Marauder defense were able to keep the Trevecca shooters to just 2 of 11 from 3-point range. A TNU basket by Percy Blade with 3:21 left cut the deficit to 4, but senior
Ra'Chaun Thompson answered right back with a three ball to give CSU a 62-55 edge. Senior guard
Masceo Harmon would go on to score 8 of the team's final 9 points as the Marauders ended up winning comfortably.
"I thought it was a solid win tonight," CSU Head Coach
Joseph Price said. "After a great start, we let them back in the game due to poor execution and free throw shooting. We had guys like Ra'Chaun bail us out at times with some big shots when TNU got close. We now have a quick turnaround against one of the top teams in the conference on Saturday. We can't make as many mistakes as we made tonight if we want to win."
Harmon led all players with 19 points and 5 assists.
Raheem Lemons, the conference rebounding leader, finished with his 8
th double-double of the season with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Sophomore
Sterling Gilmore added 10 points while Thompson came off the bench to add 9 points, all coming the way of the three point shot.
TNU (6-9; 2-2) had four players score in double-digits led by Jacob Williams' 11 points. TNU travels to face Cedarville on Saturday.
Central State's game against Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday (13-3; 3-0) is scheduled for a 4 pm tip-off.
