Our Pioneers played their last game of the Nashville Tournament against Roanoke College where they looked to build some momentum before their brief Holiday break. The Pioneers lost today's game 75-67 sadly, but had plenty of bright spots to focus on and build off of when they come back to face off in a thicket of conference play. 

The first half for the Pioneers was another slow one, starting the game off in a deficit and having to fight an uphill battle for most of the game. Getting touches in the paint has been a trend all season and when successful allows us to spread the court and let our players score. This game we looked to do much of the same getting our first field goal from Senior Center,  Luke Schroeder scoring in the paint. Schroeder provided great energy coming off the bench playing a solid bench role when needed, netting 6 of his 10 points of the game in the first half. Our offense was executing but just unable to make shots fall at a 26% FG percentage and only making 1-11 3 point shots, going into halftime down 33-22.     

In the second half we saw an improvement not just in scoring but on the defensive side as well. Transy was executing and dropping shots from multiple positions and multiple people with the bench outscoring Roanoke's from the continued help from Schroeder and Freshman Daniel Mullins, who is coming off of his career high last game. In this game Mullins wasn't shy on shooting the ball getting all 14 of his points in the second half. We outscored Roanoke off of turnovers with suffocating defense and strong inside finishes by Simon Smith, and Matthew Teague, cutting the lead down to 9 with a little over 3 minutes left. From then on poor free throw shooting from the Pios and a handful of buckets from Roanoke allowed them to run out the clock.   

• Simon Smith: 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks. 

• Daniel Mullins: 14 points, 4-7 from 3, 2 rebounds.

• Jaylen Green: 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals.  

Head Coach Brian Lane had this to say after the defeat:

"It was one of our best defensive efforts of the year in the first half we just couldn't get the shots to fall.We picked up the full court pressure in the second verse and cut a 21 point deficit down to 3 points. That second half burst is a positive that we're definitely going to take into the break and hopefully build on after Christmas.  I set up the most difficult non conference schedule we have had in almost a decade and there is no doubt we have learned a great deal about ourselves and our program."

Our Pioneers have a lot to look forward to and build off of, with four players in double figures this game and excellent support from the bench is a formula for success and an overall strong team. With nothing but conference play from here on out our Pioneers are poised to take shape in the back half of the season and make some noise in the HCAC. The Pios were the preseason 2nd team in the HCAC. The Men's Basketball team plays next at Franklin College, December 28th at 5pm.

For more information on Transylvania men's basketball, follow @TransyHoops on Twitter.