LEXINGTON - Transylvania Men's Basketball extended their win streak to six games on Thursday afternoon after an 88-79 win over North Coast Athletic Conference's DePauw University in the opening game of the Don Lane Classic. The Pioneers were led by Jaylan Green, who finished with 27 points, tying a season high.

Transylvania found themselves down 10 points (29-19) with under 7 minutes to play in the first half, but finished the half on a 20-8 run to go into the half with a 39-37 lead. The Pioneers would not trail at any point the rest of the game after taking the lead, and hit big shots each time the Tigers tied the game.

Transy's defense was ultimately the deciding factor in the win, causing 16 DePauw turnovers and scoring 20 points off those turnovers. The Pioneer bench accounted for 35 of the 88 points, as Zach Stahlman and Colby Napier reached double figure scoring in the win. Stahlman led the Pioneers with 7 of their first 17 points of the game.

Matthew Teague finished with 15 points and was 2 rebounds away from earning his second double-double of the season. He hit crucial shots late to keep the Pioneers ahead of the Tigers. Hunter Penn finished the game with 6 points and 6 rebounds. Jayan Green shot 10-18 from the floor and was 5-10 from three point range.

After the win, Head Coach Brian Lane talked about his team's offensive rebounding toughness.

"We knew we had to have a rebounding toughness, because DePauw has been tremendous on the offensive glass. One of the top rebounding teams in the NCAC. We lead the HCAC in all the rebounding categories and we really made a focus on getting extra shots. Getting those 10 offensive rebounds in the first half really kept us in the game." The Pioneers had 20 second chance points in the win.

Transylvania is now 7-2 on the season, their best start since the 2017-2018 season when they began 7-2. The 6 game breaks their previous longest win streak, which came in the 2017-2018 season when they started the season 5-0.

Transylvania will face Baldwin Wallace in the Don Lane Classic Championship tomorrow at 3 PM. The Yellow Jackets defeated East Texas Baptist in game 2 of the classic to advance to the championship.