NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tiffin men's basketball ran into a Trevecca Nazarene team that had their best shooting output of the season on Thursday night, falling to the Trojans 83-74.
TNU set a school record with 17 made threes on 27 attempts (63%) while shooting 58.3% from the field. Tiffin finished 43.1% from the field and 25% from deep. The Dragons outrebounded the Trojans by a wide margin of 40-27, including 16-1 on the offensive end, and outscored TNU 38-18 in the paint.
The difference in the game was Trevecca's three-point shooting, though, as they had a pair of players make at least six with Austin Wills going 7-9 from deep for 21 points and Nathan Harper 6-10 for 18 points.
Austin Adams had the best game of anyone in a Dragon uniform, scoring 21 points and pulling down 17 rebounds for double-double. With his 15th board of the game, Adams jumped into the top-10 all-time at Tiffin for career rebounds despite playing just three seasons at TU, and now has 593 total. Joshua Williams also had 12 points and Terrell Mabins 10 for TU.
Adams got the scoring started with a three on Tiffin's first possession. Moments later, an Austin Schaub layup extended the Dragon lead to 8-4 at the 17:32 mark.
The Trojans responded with a 12-5 run over the next two minutes to take a 16-11 advantage. TNU would extend their lead to as many as ten during the opening half, but Tiffin was able to cut the deficit to three, 28-25, at the 8:10 mark.
Trevecca was able to counter and hold off the Dragon run, though, eventually taking a 40-32 lead into halftime.
Tiffin still trailed by ten, 53-43, at the 15:44 mark, but the Dragons proceeded to lock down on defense and score 10 unanswered points to tie the game. Adams started the run with an and-one, followed by two steals in the midcourt that led to fastbreak layups.
After an over-and-back call on the Trojans, Jaden Terry nailed a three from the corner to knot the score at 53 apiece with 14:14 on the clock.
The Dragons could not quite grab the lead yet, though, as the Trojans were able to respond with a triple and maintain the advantage for five more minutes. However, that was when Joshua Williams drained a three to put Tiffin on top for the first time since early in the first-half, 64-63 with nine minutes to play.
Back-to-back TNU threes around a Hickman layup swung the lead back in the Trojan favor as the game went to a media timeout with 6:14 remaining.
The Trojan three-point barrage finally proved to be too much for the Dragons, as three-straight triples gave the home team an 11-point lead, 81-70, with 2:10 to play.
Adams stopped the run with by getting a tough layup to go, but the damage was done and TNU came away with the nine-point win.
The Dragons will look to bounce back on Saturday afternoon as they make their way to Owensboro, Ky. to face Kentucky Wesleyan at 3:00 p.m. EST.