BOURBONNAIS, IL. – Playing in front of a packed Homecoming crowd, the Olivet Nazarene University men’s basketball team cruised to a 105-58 win over Great Lakes Christian in an exhibition game Friday night in McHie Arena.
It only took four seconds for the Tigers to take the lead when Griffin Andricks flipped the opening tip-off to Tyler Schmidt for an easy dunk. Sam Emich then connected on a three-pointer and Schmidt got three the old-fashioned way in opening the game on an 8-2 run.
The Crusaders knocked down a two-point jumper five minutes in to make it a 16-8 ONU lead, but Andricks drove to the rim for the basket and the foul to put the Tigers in front by double-digits. The lead never dropped below double figures for the rest of the match.
The lead swelled to as many as 35 in the first half. Daniel Murphy put the finishing touches on the opening period with a second-chance layup to put the Tigers up by 29 heading into the halftime locker room. The lead was never in question in the second half.
The Tigers hit their marks, shooting over 52-percent from the floor and over 42-percent from deep while limiting the Crusaders to just 32-percent shooting and worse than 18-percent from deep. ONU also won the rebound battle 61-35.
Five Tigers finished with double-digit points. Schmidt led all scorers with 19. Caleb Swearingen was an efficient 5-for-6 from the floor in scoring 18. Andricks notched a double-double with 13 points and rebounds apiece. Eli Edwards and Murphy both came off the bench to score 12 and 10, respectively.
The ONU men’s basketball team will open their 2023-24 campaign in McHie Arena against the Taylor Trojans on Monday, Oct. 30. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
For more information about the athletics program, contact Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu.
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— Republished 10/23/2023 —
*Photo credit: Jackson Harvey
