ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University Men's Basketball opened their national title defense firing on all cylinders this evening inside the MTI Center, taking down Mary Hardin-Baylor 98-70. Five different players scored in double digits as the Thunder shot better than 50% from the floor. The defense was equally impressive, suffocating the Cru offense at times and limiting them to just 19 first-half points and just 37% shooting on the evening. Trine is 1-0 and UMHB is 0-1.
 
The game was the nightcap of a double header, fans who came early were treated to an exciting game between Heidelberg and Wabash. Heidelberg held off a furious rally from the Little Giants to win 82-78.
 
Jayce Cusack led the Thunder with 18 points, including four triples, Drew Moore added 16 and Fred Garland had fourteen points with 10 coming in the first 8 minutes and handed out 7 assists. Nate Tucker and Max Greenamoyer came off the bench and poured in 13 and 12, respectively. Greenamoyer did all his damage from long range, nailing four of his six three point attempts. Emmanuel Megnanglo nearly posted a triple-double with 12 rebounds, eight points, and seven blocks. All told, the Thunder had 11 players score points and assisted on 27 of 37 made field goals.
 
Trine possessed the ball for nearly the entire first minute of the game, a defensive rebound by the Cru led to a fast break layup by Eli Beard and the Cru led 2-0. Beard would lead all scorers with 23. Layups by Garland and Cusack would give Trine a 4-2 advantage they would not relinquish. From there Trine would go on an 18-2 run, capped by a Cusack triple off an impressive no-look-behind-the-back pass from Aidan Smylie, that erupted the raucous Thunder student section and forced a UMHB timeout. The timeout did little to slow down the Thunder offense. Out of the break Cusack made a layup, Garland scored three the old fashioned way and Cusack ignited the crown with another triple and the Thunder lead was 30-6. The teams swapped baskets from there and the Thunder took a 43-19 lead into the intermission.
 
UMHB refused to go quietly as the second half started with the visitors trimming the Thunder lead to 17. Coach Miller was able to rally his squad with a quick timeout. Moore hit a three out of the timeout, then Megnanglo blocked a Cru three point attempt and Moore scooped up the rebound and led the fastbreak, he was fouled on his shot attempt. The Cru's head coach disagreed, and was charged a technical foul. Moore knocked down all four free throw attempts. The Thunder would hit 11 of 12 shots from the charity stripe on the evening. With four minutes remaining, Greenamoyer hit his first three with the Thunder. Greenamoyer, a grad transfer from Hanover, is a career 38% three point shooter and scored nearly 1,200 points with the Panthers. The next trip down the floor he drilled another, a minute later he would hit the final two buckets of the night for Trine, sending the crowd into a frenzy as the Thunder neared the century mark.
 
Trine shot 37 of 70 (52.9%) from the floor and 13 of 28 (46.4%) from beyond the arc. Trine hit 11 of 12 free throws (91.7%) and grabbed 12 steals and blocked 11 shots. UMHB shot 29 of 78 (37.2%) from the floor and 5 of 22 (22.7%) from three point range. The Cru knocked down 7 of 9 (77.8%) from the stripe and out rebounded the Thunder 42-40.  
 
Trine takes on Wabash tomorrow at 3 p.m., the game follows the 1 p.m. tip off between the Cru and the Student Princes of Heidelberg.