SPRING ARBOR, MI. – For the first time in over two weeks, the Spring Arbor Men's Basketball team returned to American 1 Credit Union Arena to take on their Cougar counterparts from Mount Vernon Nazarene. The contest marked the beginning of Crossroads League action for the 2024-2025 campaign. 
 
The contest started out as a defensive slugfest, with Spring Arbor recording four steals in the first four minutes, and neither team scoring until the 16:19 mark, when a Dante Favor bucket broke the seal. From that point, Spring Arbor went on a 12-2 run to take a 14-2 lead, before three straight Mount Vernon buckets cut the SAU lead to 14-9. Three straight buckets from Kevyn Robertson extended the Cougar lead back to 11, before an 11-2 run by MVNU brought them within 2 with 3 minutes to go. The two squads would go back and forth to finish out the half, with Spring Arbor taking a slim 5 point lead, 32-27 going into the break. 
 
Half two started slow offensively as well, with the first points coming from Mount Vernon at the 17:41 mark. The rest of the half was back and forth, with neither team going on any extended run. Spring Arbor would hold their lead for the entire half, never letting Mount Vernon get within four, and making enough shots down the stretch to seal the 8 point victory, 65-57. 
 
THE BASICS
SCORE: Spring Arbor 65, Mount Vernon 57
LOCATION: Spring Arbor, MI | American 1 Credit Union Arena
RECORDS: Spring Arbor 6-1, 1-0 Mount Vernon 3-3, 0-1
 
 
GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• The leading scorer for Spring Arbor was Travis Grayson with 19 points, adding another solid performance to his junior campaign so far. Grayson is averaging 16.4 PTS, 5.3 AST, and 2.6 REB through 7 games this season. 
• Joining Grayson in double-figures were Kevyn Robertson, Eli White, and Gabe Newhof. Robertson contributed in all facets of the game, with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. White was hot from behind the arc, going 4-8 from deep to account for all 12 of his points. Newhof added 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. 
• Defensively, Dante Favor made a big impact with 3 blocks and 2 steals. He also had 5 points, 3 assists, and 4 rebounds. 
• The leading scorer for Mount Vernon was Trent Koning, who had 19 points on 7 of 15 shooting, going 3-9 from three. 
• The team stats were close, as the score would indicate, with both teams having 12 points off of turnovers, Spring Arbor having the advantage in bench points at 18-12 and Mount Vernon having the edge in points in the paint at 34-30.

 
Next Up:
The Cougars will continue Crossroads League play as they travel to Indianapolis to take on Marian on Saturday, November 23^rd. Tip-off will be at 2:00 PM.