TIFFIN, Ohio - Shane Waldon scored 16 points and pulled down 10 boards as Tiffin men's basketball cruised past Ohio Valley 92-69 on Thursday evening.
With the win, the Dragons improve to 3-8 in the conference and 7-12 overall.
Hunter Schmalz continued his recent streak of good play off the bench for TU, scoring 16 points on 4-8 shooting from deep along with grabbing a career-high six rebounds. Austin Schaub and Austin Adams were the other Dragons in double figures, with 14 and 13, respectively.
Tiffin shot 47.5% (38-80) from the field, but shot better from deep at a rate of 48% (12-25). On the flip side, Ohio Valley struggled mightily from beyond the arc, hitting just 4 of 17 (23.5%). Tiffin forced 29 OVU turnovers in the game, and tallied 11 more rebounds and 14 more assists than the Fighting Scots.
The Dragons also saw a good contribution off the bench, outscoring Ohio Valley 36-19.
The Fighting Scots did not score for over four minutes to start the contest, as Tiffin took an early 8-0 lead. The advantage extended to 15-4 on a Waldon jumper at the 14:35 mark, and then 32-12 as Jaden Terry knoced down a jumper with 7:40 to go before the half.
Ohio Valley was able to hang around and trim the deficit a bit before halftime, however, as the Dragons went into the break leading by 13, 46-33. The Scots carried over their momentum into the second-half, scoring the first five points of the period to cut the deficit to eight. A Joshua Williams triple ended the run and pushed the margin back to double digits, but Ohio Valley kept fighting and brought the Tiffin lead down to just five, 52-47 with 14:09 to play.
That was as close as the visitors would come, though, as the Dragons flipped a switch and exploded for a 25-5 run over the next nine minutes. Highlights of the run included a wide-open dunk on the break from Adams and a pair of deep triples from Schmalz, the latter of which made it 77-52 with 5:45 remaining in the game.
Schmalz would drain another triple moments later, before Luke Rightnowar and Braxton Fasone put a bow on the win with back-to-back threes in the final minute as Tiffin took the 23-point victory.
Sitting in 10th place, three games out of the eighth spot and playoff contention, this Saturday's game will be a critical one for the Dragons as they host Ohio Dominican, who are tied for fourth in the conference with a 7-4 mark in G-MAC action. Opening tip is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.