The Spring Arbor University men's basketball team opened MCC play with a hard fought 62-59 victory over the Marian College Knights. With the win SAU improves to 6-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Marian falls to 3-3 and 0-1.
Plagued by foul trouble throughout the first half, the Cougars trailed by just three points at halftime 31-28, despite leading scorer Rob Boss playing just four minutes.
A back-and-forth game saw ten lead changes and five ties. Marian was able to build their largest lead of the game at 47-40 with 9:22 to play. The Cougars would go on a 9-2 run over the next five minutes however to knot the score at 49-49. Junior DJ Baisden who scored a game-high 22 points came up with a crucial steal and junior Willie Pickvet who finished with a season-high 16 points converted on the offensive end to give Spring Arbor a 58-54 lead with :25 to go. A quick three pointer by Marian made the score 58-57 but Baisden calmly connected on a pair of one-and-one opportunities with the second following two free throws by the Knights. A half-court desperation shot as time expired was off the mark for Marian.
Senior Richard Blair turned in another solid performance as he netted 12 points and played well on the defensive end. Senior Aaron List, starting in his second consecutive game turned in a workman like performance with eight points and six rebounds. Freshmen Matt VanPelt dished out a game-high seven assists.
"It was a good road win for us," commented SAU head coach Ryan Cottingham. "To overcome some early foul trouble and pull it out down the stretch showed a lot of poise and toughness. Our upperclassmen did an outstanding job leading the way. Marian is a difficult place to play and they are much improved."
The Cougars are back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 1st when they host the University of St. Francis Cougars in another MCC contest. Game-time is 7:00pm.
