MOUNT VERNON, OH - Spring Arbor University could not maintain a five point lead at the half on the road to Mount Vernon Nazarene University and eventually fell to the host Cougars 70-64.

M.V.N.U. (7-12, 1-6) picked up their first Mid-Central Conference win of the season enjoying balanced scoring having five players with double digits. Austin Semple and Danil Zakhlebnyy each scored 15 points, Robbie Taylor scored 13, Caleb Williams added 11, and Ben Severns chipped in with 10.

Chris Bellamy, once again, led Spring Arbor with 26 points. This marks the 10th game of the last 11 that Bellamy has topped the 20 point mark.

Matt Howe put in a solid performance as he scored 14 points and hauled in 11 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season.

The game turned for the Spring Arbor Cougars when about five minutes into the second half, the road weary Cougars just seemed to run out of gas, and the host Cougars caught fire with the out-side shot. Mount Vernon connected on 4 of 6 shots from beyond the arc in the second half.

We've gone through a very difficult stretch in our schedule," stated Head Coach, Ryan Cottingham. We are going to regroup, and we will get better. I am confident that we will peak at the right time."

Spring Arbor falls to 12-7 on the season and 3-4 in Conference play. And will make a welcome return home for a Saturday afternoon game with Goshen. The Maple leafs are tied for second place in the MCC after defeating Huntington University 64-62 on Tuesday night. The match-up with Goshen takes place at 3:00.