Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania men's basketball team's admirable late season run came to an end with a 90-74 loss against the Hanover Panthers in the 2022 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Semifinal game on Friday evening in Hanover, Indiana.

The Pioneers fought from the tip-off to the final buzzer but Hanover, the #1 seed in the tournament, pulled away from the #4 seed Transylvania in the second half. The game marks the second straight year the Pioneers and the Panthers met in the HCAC Semifinal. In last year's result, Transylvania advanced to the conference championship after defeating Hanover in an exhilarating 76-75 game. However, this year the Panthers upended the Pioneers' attempt to reach the finals. 

After going up by a score of 5-4 on a Simon Smith three pointer, Hanover grabbed the lead on a 12-3 run, a lead they would keep for the remainder of the contest. The Pioneers fought to narrow the gap with scoring from Colby Napier and Jaylan Green. Zach Stahlman came up huge with three straight triples in a span of just 71 seconds to make it a 37-34 game. Unfortunately for Transylvania, Hanover was able to respond again and went into the half up 43-34. 

The Pioneers, no strangers to comebacks throughout their season, came out for the second half with yet another in their plans. Despite their best efforts, the hole proved too much to climb out of. Freshmen Napier and Hunter Penn made key shots to get within 6 points of the Panthers early in the second half, but Hanover would respond and form a double-digit lead, which would stand for the rest of the game.

Transylvania's 2022 campaign ends at 16-8 overall in regular season play, with a 10-6 conference record. They defeated Anderson in an absolute thriller to advance in the HCAC tournament, but were unable to get past the top seeded Panthers.

Hear from head coach Brian Lane and senior forward Zach Larimore, in their post-game press conference here. 

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