Hanover, Ind. – The Transylvania men's basketball team was upended by the Hanover College Panthers, 94-65 on Saturday afternoon at Collier Arena.
The Pioneers had their six-game win streak snapped with the loss and now carry a record of 6-2 against Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponents. Hanover improved to 5-4 overall and 5-4 against HCAC competition.
Saturday's game pitted an instant rematch of a Thursday matchup between the teams which went the way of Transy with an 89-84 win in overtime.
Intent on returning the favor to the Pioneers, Hanover built an 11-point halftime lead Saturday before pulling away in the second half, benefiting from consistently hot shooting over the course of the afternoon; the Panthers displayed 8 of 18 shooting from three-point range in the first half and connected on 4 of 9 shots from downtown in the ensuing half.
Hanover shot 58 percent from the floor for the day while the Pioneers shot 34 percent from the floor in the second half as their comeback bid was doused by the home team.
The Pioneers came out of the halftime break gradually trimming the 49-38 deficit to 59-51 on a layup from Brice Scott with 13:46 left in the game, but the Panthers responded on a game-sealing 20-2 run over the next six minutes to seize control of the contest.
Gavin Root was the team-high scorer for the Pioneers with 14 points on 5 for 10 shooting from the floor, hitting 3 of 5 three-point attempts. Lucas Gentry added 12 points, five rebounds, and one assist on 5 for 12 shooting. Dominique Turner was the other double-digit scorer for the Pioneers with 11 points.
Transylvania will start off the final week of HCAC regular season play with a pair of home-and-home games with the Bluffton University Beavers. Transylvania visits Bluffton on Friday, February 19 for a 6:00 p.m. tip at the Sommer Center in Bluffton, Ohio before rematching on Saturday afternoon in Lexington at the Beck Center for a 5:00 p.m. tip-off and Senior Day celebration to precede the regular season finale.
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