The Tiffin University men's basketball team turned up the defense to defeat Trevecca Nazarene 70-61.

The defense was the deciding factor with the Dragons forcing 15 turnovers with 12 steals, while the Trojans only forced 9 turnovers on five steals. 

The Dragons improve to 4-8 overall and 4-8 in the conference, while the Trojans drop to 2-12 overall and 2-9 in the conference. 

The Trojans started the game with a quick 7-0 run, but the Dragons scored six straight points to come within one of the Trojans. 

Tiffin then went on an 8-0 run led by Kole Hornbuckle who scored five points during that run along with a Tanner Johnson three. Trevecca countered with a 9-0 run to retake the lead 18-15. 

The rest of the first half was fairly even with neither team letting the other gain a substantial lead but the Dragons would lead at halftime 32-31. 

After going down 33-32 early in the second half two three-pointers from Braxton Foreman gave the Dragons a 38-33 lead that sparked an 11-1 run that saw Tiffin go up 44-34.

The Trojans countered going on a 10-3 run of their own to come within three of the Dragons 47-44 with 6:52 left in the game. Tiffin scored six unanswered points to lead by a nine-point margin 53-44. 

Down the stretch Tiffin made some clutch free throws to put the game away and win 70-61. 

Kole Hornbuckle led the Dragons scoring 19 points and shooting 6-for-10 from the field, grabbing seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Hornbuckle broke a career high in points in the win, breaking his previous career high of 13 that was set on Dec. 9 against Ohio Valley. Trent Williams tallied 15 points shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc, collecting six assists, three rebounds and two steals. 

Wesley Jordan scored nine points, adding six rebounds, and two steals, Braxton Foreman posted nine points going 3-for-6 from the field, had six rebounds, and one assist, and teammate Thomas Hickman had nine points, three steals, and two rebounds.