Yellow Jackets Open 2021 With Victory Over Tiffin

by Josh Decker

The Cedarville Yellow Jackets started 2021 off with a convincing 101-77 win over Tiffin University in the Callan Athletic Center on Saturday.

Junior Branden Maughmer starred for the Cedarville offense with his first triple-double of the season, scoring 20 points while adding 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Yellow Jackets’ shots were falling early, and Cedarville jumped out to an early 17-8 lead over Tiffin.

Cedarville’s scoring continued in the first half, and the Yellow Jackets took a 43-34 lead heading into halftime. Cedarville shot 51 percent as a team in the first half and limited Tiffin to only 38 percent shooting from the field.

Quinton Green paced the Yellow Jackets’ first half offense, dropping 14 points on 5-7 shooting from the field. Junior Kollin VanHorn also contributed 10 points in the half to go along with four blocks.

In the second half, Cedarville continued to shoot the ball well-extending the lead to 15 – the largest lead of the game at the time.

The Yellow Jackets’ offense stayed hot and Cedarville’s defense contained the Dragon’s shooters.

A steal in the second half by Jacob Drees was capped off with a dunk to give the Jackets an 18-point lead with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

Cedarville was then able to run out the last few minutes of the clock and secure their first G-MAC win of the season.

Tiffin finished the game shooting only 42 percent from the field, while Cedarville shot 54 percent from the field and 52 percent from 3-point range.

The Yellow Jackets also forced 13 turnovers in the game while only committing seven turnovers of their own. This led to 18 points off turnovers for Cedarville, which helped fuel the offense.

Cedarville commanded the glass throughout the contest – securing 44 rebounds and outrebounding Tiffin by a total margin of 12.

There was no lack of scoring for the Yellow Jackets in the game. While Drees only had four points in the game, some of his teammates were hot from the field. Five Cedarville players ended the day in double figures for the team.

In addition to the 20-point triple-double from Maughmer, VanHorn dropped 20 points in the game to go with 6 rebounds.

Senior Conner TenHove poured in 15 points, followed by Green with 14 and Isaiah Speelman with 12 points in the contest.

Cedarville’s next game is an away matchup scheduled for January 5th at 5:30 P.M. against Ohio Dominican in Columbus, Ohio. The Yellow Jackets will be looking to continue the momentum and get a second straight win in the G-MAC conference.

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.