ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team grinded out a 61-52 victory over Mount St. Joseph on Saturday afternoon in the team's home and season opening game.

The Thunder start the season on the right foot at 1-0, while the Lions falter to 0-1. A fantastic defensive effort in the second half, limiting Mount St. Joseph to just 19 points, was the difference in the game.

"Our plan is to wear teams down with the way we play and be physical with screening and cutting," Head Coach Brooks Miller said postgame. The Lions shot 50.0% (13-for-26) in the first half, but were held to 26.1% (6-for-23) in the second stanza.

Nick Bowman [Angola, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern] provided highlights all afternoon with a high-octane performance for 35 of the 40 minutes.

"There were a lot of special performances tonight. Everybody knows what Nick does, the plays he makes where he takes two away on defense and gives us two on offense is a special way to win basketball games," Coach Miller continued.

Bowman finished with team highs in points (24), rebounds (7) and steals (3). Connor Jones [Danville, Ind. / Danville] was another contributor for the Thunder, but the impact he made was hard to see on the box score if you aren't looking carefully.

"Jones, if you look at his plus-minus, he was a +19. He is such a special player because he can do so many things and keeps improving," Miller beamed.

Both teams struggled to get the ball in the hoop early in the inaugural regular season game of the 2021-22 campaign, but a two-handed slam by Emmanuel Megnanglo [Cotonou, Benin / Amelia Academy] sparked the crowd at MTI to give Trine a 6-5 lead four minutes into the game.

The Lions held the Thunder quiet in the middle stages of the first period and held a 19-11 lead before the home team used a timeout down 19-11. A steal and dunk from Bowman halted the dry spell, but Mount St, Joseph continued to apply pressure on the Trine offense.

Down 24-14 with five minutes remaining, Hayden Jones [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] knocked down a pair of three-point jump shots off of feeds from Megnangelo to cut into the deficit. Bryce Williams [Archbold, Ohio / Archbold] and Brent Cox [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] connected from deep as well as the half came to a close to make it 33-32 Mount St. Joseph at the break.

Trine immediately took the lead with a jump shot by Aiden Warzecha [Milford, Mich. / Milford] and another Cox three within the first two minutes of play. Once again, it was the defense by Bowman that provided an and-one opportunity for the senior with 15 minutes remaining to keep the momentum going the Thunder's way.

Cox crashed the offensive glass and was fouled for an and-one inside that gave Trine a 45-43 edge and the Thunder would not look back. A 7-0 run gave Trine some breathing room and a big time block from the freshman Jones kept the Lions down with eight to go.

Mitchell Geller [Huntington, Ind. / Huntington North] made his presence known late in the game with closing time minutes and a few key plays on both ends of the floor in an effort to secure the victory. He scored a lay-up and found Warzecha for a three to keep the Thunder in front 56-52 and Bowman was able to put the game away with free throws just before the final buzzer sounded. Trine was able to score the final eight points.

"Seniors made senior plays. Mitch was huge for us coming in ready to go. He had a big impact off the bench to win the game with some of the plays he made. Aiden struggled early, but he hit the three that took the air out of their sails a little bit. Those are the types of plays you like to see from seniors," Miller concluded.

Along with Bowman's 24 points, Brent Cox [Kendallville, Ind. / East Noble] was the only other player in double figures with 15, including 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.

The season continues for the men's basketball team on Tuesday, November 9 at Manchester University. That game will tip-off at 7 pm.