Oilers put Trojans away late, win by 13

The script for Saturday was almost the same as Thursday's game against Kentucky Wesleyan when Findlay eked out a 71-64 win. The Oilers went on an 11-1 run to close out the first half and had a big halftime lead, 40-29. And just like Thursday, Trevecca Nazarene made things interesting in the second half. Down as many as nine in the second half, Trevecca Nazarene tied it up at 62-62 with 5:43 left in the second half. The last 5:43 of the game is where the script was flipped. Aided by eight straight free throws and Tre'Maine Gray's late 3-pointer, the Oiler closed out the game on a 19-6 run to pick up an 81-68 win over the Trojans on Saturday to keep their winning streak alive. "Joey (Edmonds) made a nice pass as he was going to the hole, threw it out to me and it was a tough three," Gray said, who finished with 15 points. "But I had to hit it." It's the third game in a row where free throws propelled UF to victory. In their last three games, the Oilers are a combined 46 of 54 (85%) from the charity stripe. Nate Bruns finished 5 of 5 from the line and paced the Oilers with a team-high 23 points. "Early in the year, I think a lot of people were probably thinking that we gotta make our free throws and that cost us early in the year," Findlay head coach Charlie Ernst said. "It did in our next opponent in Cedarville. We had an opportunity in that game from the line, we didn't get it done and it cost us the game. "But those are big, and we've got a lot of guys who are confident from the line right now. Confidence is everything, right? Especially when you're shooting the ball in basketball." It's also the third straight game where the Oilers (12-5, 6-3 G-MAC) had a lead larger than seven points midway through the second half, just to see the other team get within one possession. The Oilers had fewer turnovers, dominated the paint and shot it at a higher clip (50.8% to TN's 49.1). But the Trojans were lights-out from behind the three-point line, finishing 13 of 23 from three. CJ Penha paced Trevecca with a game-high 26 points. But he was the least of Findlay's concern. "I think in some ways we had some guys miss a few shots they normally make, but they were hitting everything too," Ernst said. "To be honest, number 4 (Elon Smallwood) made two 3s and those were the first two he's made all year. Number 11 (Miguel Williams)—who went 1 for 1—is shooting maybe 10 or 12 percent from three this year. They had some guys step up and make 3s that hadn't done it all year but give them credit." "When you go on the road—and we've often said this—guys have to step and make shots and sometimes the unlikely guys have to do it. I thought because they had those guys doing it, it made them tough to guard." Maybe the Oilers just like playing stressful basketball. "We don't get content, but normally our defense creates our offense," Findlay senior Brady Wildermuth said. "So when we give them what they want and kinda push back off the gas a little bit, and stop being aggressive on offense, it kinda bites us in the butt sometimes. "Every battle in the G-MAC is gonna be tough for us, for anybody. Ohio Dominican came in—they had one win—and they played us tough and beat us. It doesn't matter who we play, everyone's going to give us their best shot, night in and night out." Wildermuth might've only scored four points in Saturday's game, but during this seven-game winning streak, his coach says he's been one of the biggest pieces to that. "Brady's had a really nice stretch, he's really giving us some good minutes. I thought he had a key stretch tonight where he had a baseline jumper," Ernst said of Wildermuth. "We had a two-point lead, came out of a timeout and actually went to Brady and he made a nice right-hand hook over their length. Give Brady a lot of credit because he's stepped up and hit a lot of big shots for us over the last month." TREVECCA NAZARENE (4-13, 1-9 G-MAC) Penha 10-17 2-4 26, Newton 0-5 0-0 0, Rogers 3-4 0-0 9, Smallwood 3-6 0-1 8, Price 5-13 3-4 16, Zapp 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 2-3 0-0 5, Terry 2-2 0-0 4, Walker 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25-52 5-9 68. FINDLAY (12-5, 6-3 G-MAC) Masterlasco 5-9 3-3 14, Bruns 9-20 5-5 23, Wildermuth 2-4 0-0 4, Gray 5-10 3-4 15, Edmonds 3-6 3-4 10, Stover 1-2 0-0 2, Linder 2-2 0-0 6, Thorbahn 2-4 2-2 7. TOTALS: 29-57 16-18 81. HALFTIME: Findlay, 40-29 3-POINT GOALS: Trevecca Nazarene 13-23 (Penha 4-6, Rogers 3-4, Smallwood 2-4, Price 3-7, Zapp 0-1, Williams 1-1); Findlay 7-23 (Masterlasco 1-5, Bruns 0-5, Wildermuth 0-2, Gray 2-4, Edmonds 1-4, Linder 2-2, Thorbahn 1-1). REBOUNDS: Trevecca Nazarene 29 (Penha 8); Findlay 28 (Bruns 8). ASSISTS: Trevecca Nazarene 16 (Rogers 9); Findlay 14 (Edmonds 5). BLOCKS: Trevecca Nazarene 2; Findlay 3. STEALS: Trevecca Nazarene 2; Findlay 9 (Bruns 5). TURNOVERS: Trevecca Nazarene 15; Findlay 9.