SPRING ARBOR, MI – Rob Hogans had just two points at the half and the Cougars trailed the Mount Vernon Nazarene University Cougars 30-22. Over the next 20 minutes of play, Hogans netted 20 of his 22 points and Spring Arbor mounted an impressive second half comeback and outscored Mount Vernon 46-27 in the second half and defeated MVNU 68-57.
Hogans entered the game ranked 6th in the NAIA in scoring this season with 373 points.
Spring Arbor couldn't seem to get anything rolling in the first half trailing by as many as 12 points midway through the first 20 minutes.
Spring Arbor came out of the break with new life and tied the game for the first time at 38-38 with 13:33 left on a basket by Greg Hamilton and over the next five minutes, both Cougar teams traded blows and with 8:36 left the score was knotted at 48 points each.
A pair of free throws by Jiles Neely and a basket by Tyler Hughes and a huge 3-pointer by Hogans gave Spring Arbor the momentum it needed and Spring Arbor started to pull away from Mount Vernon and the SAU defense didn't allow Mount Vernon any points over the last three minutes until a meaningless 3-pointer with 22 seconds left on the clock.
Hamilton scored 16 points and Tyler Hughes added 10 point to the SAU tally, but the director of the show for Spring Arbor was point guard Xavier Prather. Prather dished out eight assists made a block and a steal, grabbed six boards, and never committed a turnover in just under 31 minutes of playing time.
"Xavier and Greg played great games for us today," said Head Coach, Ryan Cottingham. "Rob is always going to get his points, he's just that good. But we needed Hamilton and Prather to step up and they did."
The Cougars improved to 7-9 overall and 2-2 in the Crossroads League which places them in a tie for fifth place with #7 Indiana Wesleyan, who fell 73-71 to Marian University today. The Cougars will travel to Winona Lake, IN on Tuesday night for a 7:00 tip with Grace College.
