GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Trine University men's basketball has gone through the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) schedule perfect the first time through after a 74-71 win at Calvin University. The Thunder, ranked number seven in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, is now 17-1 overall and 7-0 in league play while #4 Calvin drops to 16-2 and 6-1 in conference action.

The win came on the back of a quality shooting effort from behind the three-point line. In the first half alone, Trine was 7-for-10 to take a 10-point lead into halftime. They would finish 9-of-20, but 13 steals on 20 Knight turnovers helped overcome a 40-28 difference in rebounds in favor of the home squad.

Fred Garland would score the first seven Thunder points himself and Nate Tucker made the score 9-2 in the opening minutes. An and-one by Brent Cox continued the momentum for Trine, but Calvin would throw the next punch and tie the game up at 14 at the halfway point in the period.

Coming out of a timeout, Drew Moore found Cox for a three-point field goal and Cortez Garland would hit from long range a few minutes later to extend the lead to 22-18. The Knights would bring the ballgame back to within one, but a four-minute stretch where the Thunder went on a 15-2 scoring spree allowed them to gap their opponents going into halftime.

After going without a shot attempt for most of the first half, Aidan Smylie was true on three consecutive trips down the floor from long range to fuel the run. After seven straight points by Calvin, Tucker would hit from behind the three-point line as well to make it 41-31 at halftime.

Hustle plays by Emmanuel Megnanglo early in the second half led to points on the offensive end by Trine to remain in front by double figures. A dunk by the senior Megnanglo would give the team a 56-41 lead with less than 13 minutes on the clock. A jump shot by Cox with 8:31 remaining made it 63-47, the Thunder's largest lead of the night.

Back-and-forth the teams went as a dunk by Megnanglo made it a 13-point game at 73-60 with 3:36 to go, but the Knights would make one final push at the win and nearly got there. A three followed by an immediate timeout fueled an 8-0 run that cut the Trine lead down to 73-68 with 35 seconds left. The teams traded 1-for-2 trips at the charity stripe as the shot clock turned off and a putback in the final second was not enough as the Thunder held on for the three-point triumph, 74-71.

Smylie's 21 points in a career-high while Fred Garland (16 points) and Cortez Garland (13 points) joined him in double figures. Megnanglo cleaned the glass well for a team-high seven rebounds. Cortez Garland was credited with seven assists. In total, the team had 20 assists on 27 made field goals.

The nationally-ranked Thunder look to add on to their nine game win streak on Sunday, January 28 against Adrian College inside the home of the Detroit Pistons, Little Caesars Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. immediately following the NBA game between the Pistons and Oklahoma City Thunder at 2 p.m.T4u