#9 Oilers Overcome Slow Start to Burn the Dragons in League Opener
Tiffin, Ohio – On Thursday, Nov. 29, the Oilers strolled into the Dragons Lair in Tiffin, Ohio ranked no. 9 and unbeaten on the young season. Tiffin dealt an early blow, but ultimately Findlay's experience and poise took over as the visiting Orange and Black earned a hard-fought 82-75 victory over their conference rival. With the win, the Oilers improved to 5-0 overall and begin league play 1-0 while Tiffin falls to 2-4 and 0-1 in the league.
The Dragons came ready to play, exploding out to a 10-0 lead just two minutes into the contest. That lead would balloon to a game-high 22 points when Tiffin's Austin Adams buried a triple to give the home team a 32-10 lead with 11:22 to play in the first half.
By halftime, Findlay had cut the lead to 43-34, but Tiffin's shooting percentage of 59.4% had them in good shape heading into the final frame.
Findlay freshman Ethan Linder went on a six-point run of his own at the ten minute mark of the second half to tie the game and sophomore Anthony Masterlasco buried a triple to put the reigning Great Midwest regular season champions in the lead for the first time.
That lead held for the remainder of the contest as Findlay would walk out of The Lair with another win, the Oilers 47th win in 55 tries against the Dragons.
Senior Alex White led the way for the ninth ranked team in the country with 21 points, on the strength of eight free-throws, and ten rebounds, his fourth consecutive double-double. He also added three assists, three blocks, and a steal. Fellow big man Aaron Overhiser contributed 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
Senior Trey Smith scored 14 points, had four rebounds, and three assists while sophomore Tommy Schmock scored nine points and had six assists.
After a slow start, Findlay outshot Tiffin 50% (31-of-62) to 45.6% (31-of-68) and benefited from 15-of-20 from the charity stripe. The Oilers controlled the paint, outscoring the Dragons 50-to-40 from in close, although it was the home team which had an advantage on the boards and 41-to-36.
Findlay is back in action on Saturday, Dec. 1 with another road contest when they travel to take on Cedarville at 3:15.