GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Trine University men's basketball team fell to Calvin University this afternoon 77-69 at Van Noord Arena.
Jayden Bradshaw led Trine (17-6, 9-3 MIAA) with 22 points but a large second half run by the Knights (16-7, 8-4 MIAA) was too much and the Knights stopped Trine's five game winning streak.
Bradshaw led with 22 points,
Nate Tucker,
Elias Lewis, and
Cade Brenner scored in double figures as well with 16, 10, and 10 respectively.
Paxton Crane had a monster performance on the glass pulling down 15 rebounds and scoring seven points. The freshman helped the Thunder out rebound the Knights 41-32.
Elias Lewis and
Jayden Bradshaw gave Trine an early lead with a pair of triples to give Trine a 6-5 advantage early, he quickly added four more with a pull up jumper and two free throws to preserve the Thunder's lead. Calvin answered with a 10-0 run to gain its first lead of the game. Calvin held a 10 point lead past the halfway point of the first frame but were countered by a hot shooting
Cade Brenner.
The sophomore cut the Knights' lead to four with Trine's next seven points.
Nate Tucker added the next four to tie the game and free throws from Lewis and Brenner would reclaim the lead. Calvin would reclaim the lead and take a 33-30 advantage to the break.
Trine kept the Knights within reach for the first five minutes, Trine pulled within one with 15 minutes left on a made layup from Tucker to trail 41-40. Calvin would answer with a 30-9 run over the next nine minutes as the Knights capitalized on shooting woes from the Thunder. Calvin led by as many as 22 with a 71-49 advantage with just under six minutes to play.
Trine would not go easily, a 17-3 run ensued eventually forcing a Calvin timeout with 1:31 to play.
Paxton Crane made three free throws and a layup to start the run, he added six of his rebounds during the run to limit the Knights to a bevy of one shot possessions. Bradshaw scored the next seven scoring twice in transition, Brenner pulled it within eight with a pull up jumper. Calvin closed out the win with a trio of free throws.
The Thunder head to Kalamazoo on Wednesday evening for their final road test of the year.
