#8 Oilers Cruise to Victory Behind Career-High from Trey Smith
Columbus, Ohio – The University of Findlay men's basketball, ranked no. 8 in the country, traveled to Columbus to take on Ohio Dominican on Thursday, Feb. 21 and came away with a statement win, earning an 89-63 victory over their in-conference rival. With the win the Oilers improve to 22-3 overall and 15-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) and remain in first place in the league standings while the Panthers fall to 15-10 overall and 11-7 in the conference.
As the game began, it looked as though the contest would pan out to be what everyone expected, a grind. Through the first 17 minutes of play, neither team held a lead that totaled more than five points. The Panthers took a three-point lead at 29-26 on a triple from Michael Scott with 5:09 to play in the first half and looked to take some momentum into the break. The Oilers stymied that effort quickly.
Over the next eight-and-a-half minutes, ending the first half and almost four minutes into the second, Findlay went on a 23-0 run to blow the game wide open and take a 20-point lead at 49-29. Of the 23 points in the spurt, 14 came off the hot hand of senior guard Trey Smith, who canned four triples in that stretch.
Findlay cruised the rest of the way, eventually opening up a game-high 32-point lead with six minutes to play in the game.
The Oilers shot 52% from the floor while holding ODU to just 44%, but the big disparity came in the turnover column. Findlay protected the ball well, coughing it up just seven times, while their defense forced the Panthers into 20 turnovers, the second-most in any game this season by ODU. Off those turnovers Findlay was able to score 20 points.
Findlay also controlled the paint, outscoring the home team 40-28 from in close.
Trey Smith put together arguably his best performance to date as he scored a career-high 27 points while tying a career-high with six triples. Smith hit 10-of-14 from the floor and made 6-of-9 from deep. He also grabbed four rebounds and had a steal in the game.
Junior Aaron Overhiser poured in 18 points on 7-of-11 from the floor and snagged five boards while fellow big man, senior Alex White, scored 14 points, had a team-high seven rebounds, and also chipped in two assists, a steal, and a block.
Off the bench, freshman Ethan Linder scored nine points and grabbed two boards while sophomore Chazz George chipped in eight points, three rebounds, and three steals.
The Oilers are back in action in their final regular season road game of the year as they travel to Vienna, WV to battle Ohio Valley on Saturday, Feb. 23. That game will tip off at 3:00 pm.