Cedarville Completes Season Sweep Over Trevecca In Second Straight Win

by Josh Decker

The Cedarville Yellow Jackets got the job done at home against Trevecca Thursday night, defeating the Trojans 73-59 and extending their winning streak to two games. With the victory, the Jackets improve to 8-5 in the G-MAC and currently sit at fifth place in the conference.

After a slow offensive start, junior Branden Maughmer erupted in the second half for the Cedarville offense, dropping 16 points and finishing the night with 18 points to go with nine rebounds and six assists.

“I just didn’t get inside my head and let the shots I hit affect my overall game,” said Maughmer about his first half performance. “I kept rebounding and playing defense, which kept my confidence up. I just told myself that I’d figure it out once I came back out for the second half.”

Senior Conner TenHove scored 14 points and junior Isaiah Speelman added 11 points in the contest while grabbing five boards.

“Guys were really aggressive in the second half and we defended well,” explained Speelman about the team’s victory.

Cedarville struggled the first couple possessions of the game- committing turnovers the first two times down the floor. Speelman then sparked the offense by hitting a pair of three pointers before Cedarville came up empty for five straight possessions.

The Yellow Jackets gained the lead for the first time with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half, with Grant Whisman drilling a shot from behind-the-arc to give Cedarville a 15-13 advantage.

Sophomore Jacob Drees battles in the paint. [Photos by Ernest Toh]

After Trevecca went on a small run, Cedarville managed to take a 36-29 advantage over the Trojans into the locker room.

The Jackets shot 42 percent from the field in the half, and were 7-16 from deep. Unfortunately, Trevecca was shooting 50 percent from deep on 6-12 from 3-point range. Cedarville did limit its opponent to only 39 percent shooting from the floor, however.

Entering the second half, Cedarville was in some foul trouble, as Drees had three fouls and Kollin VanHorn had two.

The score remained tight in the beginning stages of the half, but then Maughmer started to take over.

After a first half that saw him shoot 1-5 for two points, Maughmer was dialed in and quickly found his rhythm. Ten straight points from Maughmer gave the Jackets a 52-39 lead with 12 minutes to play.

The two sides exchanged buckets for a few possessions, and then the Trojans closed the gap to single digits with seven minutes left.

Despite the comeback attempt by the Trojans, Cedarville began to feed the ball to Kollin VanHorn down low, and he went to work

– scoring three straight buckets, including a dunk, to extend the Jackets’ lead to 70-57.

Kollin Van Horn (10) contributed eight points to the win. [Photos by Ernest Toh]

Cedarville ended the night at 44 percent from the floor, and 35 percent from behind-the-arc. The Yellow Jackets controlled the glass throughout the game, and finished with a 38-31 advantage in rebounds.

One key factor to the win was Cedarville’s ability to secure second chance opportunities as the Jackets outscored Trevecca 17-2 in second chance points.

The Yellow Jackets’ next game is set for Tuesday, February 16th when the team travels to take on Walsh in another G-MAC matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. as Cedarville looks to stretch the winning streak to three.

Josh Decker is a junior Sport Business Management major, and a sports reporter for Cedars. He loves playing sports with friends, and spends much of his free time as a student assistant for the Cedarville men’s basketball team.