FAST START NOT ENOUGH AS TIGERS FALL TO REDHAWKS IN CCAC SEMIFINALS

GARY, Ind. – The Olivet Nazarene University men's basketball team started hot but could not keep pace as they fell to the No. 2-seed Indiana Northwest 78-64 in the CCAC Tournament Semifinals Friday evening in the Savannah Center.

The Tigers jumped out to an early double-digit lead thanks to the stellar play of senior forward Griffin Andricks, who scored 11 points in the opening six minutes. And when they Moweaqua, Ill., native drilled a 3-pointer at the 13:16 mark of the first half, ONU led 17-5.

The Purple & Yellow Gold maintained the sizeable lead for the majority of the opening period, holding a 30-20 advantage with four minutes to play in the period. But the Redhawks (20-10) would close out the first with a 12-0 run to put ONU at a two-point deficit heading into halftime.

Tyler Schmidt filled in a heroic 18 points in the second half, even giving his squad the lead with an and-one layup put ONU up 43-41 with 13:37 left. But the No. 2-seeded Redhawks continued to hit shots to keep their lead. Landon Pflederer sank a 3-pointer to tie the game at 48-48, but the was the closest the Tigers would get as IU Northwest closed out the game outscoring ONU 30-16.

Schmidt finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting. He also shared the team-lead on the glass with Andricks with eight rebounds. Andricks was the only other Tiger to finish in double figures with 17. Caleb Swearingen recorded nine. Sam Emich scored four. Pflederer and Eli Edwards each registered three. Gabe Renchen came off the bench to score a pair.

The loss drops ONU to 22-8 overall and eliminates them from the CCAC Tournament. They will need to receive an at-large bid to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament. The final 64-team field and bracket will be announced on Thursday, March 7 at 6:00 p.m. on the NAIA Youtube Channel.

--ONU—

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