OLIVET, Mich. – The Trine University men's basketball team fell victim to a hot shooting performance from The University of Olivet on Saturday afternoon inside the Cutler Event Center. Olivet (8-9, 5-1 MIAA) shot better than 50% from the floor and made 13 three pointers to give the Thunder (12-5, 4-2 MIAA) their second conference loss.
 
Nate Tucker scored 20 points to lead the Thunder and Elisha Jones poured in 17 more. Elias Lewis also tallied double figures with 11 points.
 
Olivet's Sam Howard had a fantastic individual performance, making 7-of-9 threes and scoring 25 points. He connected early to put the Thunder down five and force Trine to play from behind the entire game.  Shooting woes would cause the lead to swell further as the Thunder hit just 35% of their shots in the first half, struggling from beyond the arc as well.
 
Two more Olivet triples pushed the lead to double digits just past the halfway point. Trine trailed by as many as 18 in the first half but were able to cut the lead to ten with a jam from Paxton Crane. Olivet took a 41-29 lead into halftime.
 
Trine found some offense out of the break quickly trimming the lead to five. Elias Lewis connected from deep and Logan McKenzie added a pair of buckets. Howard answered with a triple to cut the run. Jones would trim the lead to single digits with a triple but was answered by an 11-0 run from Olivet's Sam Shenker.
 
Cade Brenner stopped the run with a triple and got help with baskets by Crane and Jayden Bradshaw. Olivet refused to let the Thunder hold momentum as Howard got hot from three, nailing three triples in 49 seconds, swelling the deficit to 72-50.
 
Trine made a run in the closing minutes but it was too little, too late. Drew Panning converted an and-one attempt after a dunk that pulled Trine within 10 with 1:23 remaining for what would be the Thunder's final points of the game.
 
Trine hosts Kalamazoo on Wednesday night inside the MTI Center at 7:00 p.m.