SCHMIDT SCORES 40 TO LEAD ONU PAST TROLLS ON SENIOR NIGHT

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. –  On a day when the Olivet Nazarene men's basketball team honored its senior class, senior guard Tyler Schmidt set a new career high to lead the Tigers to an 86-73 victory over Trinity Christian Saturday afternoon in McHie Arena.

Schmidt filled in a career-best 40 points on an efficient 15-of-20 shooting performance from the floor, including 2-of-3 from deep, while connecting on 8-of-10 free throws. He also brought down a game-high 11 rebounds to record his eighth career double-double and fourth on the season.

Despite the final score, the Tigers found themselves in a big hole early as Trinity Christian (5-21, 0-18 CCAC) raced out to a double-digit lead before the midway point of the first half. Over a five-minute stretch, the Trolls connected on 8-of-10 from the floor and hit three 3's in piecing together a 20-4 run to take a 14-point lead just nine minutes into the game.

Trailing 35-22 with six minutes left in the first, Griffin Andricks sparked the Tiger offense with a putback layup. This built into a 10-0 ONU run, and when Schmidt sank a pair of free throws to cap the spurt, ONU was only behind by three. Sam Emich closed the half with an offensive putback of his own to knock the deficit to one at the break.

The second half was all Tigers, with the Purple & Yellow Gold outscoring the Trolls 48-34 over the final 20 minutes. Schmidt did the bulk of his damage in the second half, dropping 30 points in the period to lead ONU to the win, their third in a row.

Andricks was the only other Tiger to reach double figures, coming off the bench to score 11 while snagging seven rebounds. Landon Pflederer, Caleb Swearingen, and Jack Holohan each recorded nine points. Emich finished with eight.

The Tigers (19-7, 13-5 CCAC) will close out the regular season on the road, beginning with Indiana South Bend Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. CST.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu