Findlay Suffers 84-70 Defeat | Ends 18-Game Win Streak vs Tiffin

Box Score

Postgame Interview with Dan Shardo (88.3 WLFC – Tim Montgomery)

Tiffin, Ohio – An uncharacteristic season for the University of Findlay men's basketball team continued on Thursday, Feb. 23 as the Oilers did something they have not done in a decade, suffer a loss at the hands of the Tiffin Dragons. Findlay went on the road and found themselves on the short end of an 84-70 affair, ending an 18-game winning streak against the Dragons in the process. With that loss, Findlay falls to 14-13 overall but, more importantly, is now 9-10 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) while Tiffin improves to 14-13 and 11-8 in the conference, clinching their first berth in a postseason tournament of any kind since 1992-93.

Out of the gate, it was the Dragons who were the aggressor as the home squad wasted no time taking control of the game. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Tiffin had built a 19-3 lead and had all the momentum on their side.

Over the span of the next seven minutes of game time, however, Findlay battled back, pulling to within four points at 32-28 and then with one minute to play in the half, got to within three when freshman Max Roth, who would end the game with a career-high, drilled a triple to make the score 39-36. A triple by Tiffin made it 42-36 at the half.

Every time Findlay would make a run, the Dragons would answer back, keeping the Oilers at arms-length all night long. In fact, after the score was 6-3 early, the only time Findlay was within one possession of Tiffin was just before the half at 39-36.

Nine minutes into the second half, a jumper by freshman Jagger Landers made the score 56-52, the closest Findlay had been since before the half, but a quick 11-4 run cooled off the Oilers' momentum as Tiffin went on to control the final minutes of the game, pulling out an impressive 14-point victory.

Tiffin hit 30-of-57 (52.6%) from the floor on Thursday while the Oilers made 28-of-63 (44.4%). The Dragons held the edge on the glass at 36-to-28 and also scored more points in the paint (40-to-32).

Max Roth was stellar tonight, scoring 23 points in 24 minutes of action to lead all scorers. He was red-hot from deep, making five of his six attempts from beyond the arc.

Senior Deven Stover also scored in double-figures, picking up 11 points. He also grabbed six rebounds. Senior Nathan Bruns led Findlay with seven boards and also had nine points and four assists.

Freshman Khalil Luster led the Oilers with five assists.

The Oilers wrap up the season on Saturday, Feb. 25 against the #17 Hillsdale Chargers. That game will tip at 3:00 pm.

 Findlay's season now comes down to a potential complex tie-break scenario in which the Oilers would unquestionably need a win at home against Hillsdale on Saturday. That win, combined with losses by Cedarville or Malone, could still potentially give the Oilers a path to the Great Midwest Championship Tournament as the conference office would need to use multiple layers of tiebreakers to determine the tournament participants and their seeding.