Kirksville, Mo. - The University of Findlay men's basketball team put together a dominant second half en route to picking up a season-opening victory on Friday, Nov. 10. Trailing by 11 at the half, the Oilers outscored Truman State by 24 down the stretch to pick up an 82-69 win in the first game of the 2023-24 campaign.

"I was really proud of our team's resolve tonight", commented Head Coach Charlie Ernst. "Playing on the road against a very good program is never easy, so to win and play as well as we did in the second half, it was great to see."

Findlay got out of the starting block rather slowly and found themselves trailing by double-digits just ten minutes into the contest. That deficit ballooned to 17 when a three-pointer by the Bulldogs put the home team ahead 33-16, forcing a Findlay timeout with 6:41 to play in the first half. The Oilers would outscore TSU 10-4 over the remainder of the half, but still trailed 37-26 through 20 minutes of action.

It took just under five minutes into the second half for the Oilers to take its' first lead of the night and it did so in a big way, capping a 19-6 run with a three-pointer by freshman Will Aljancic to take a 45-43 lead. That shot not only put Findlay ahead for the rest of the game, but it launched Aljancic into a scoring frenzy that was one for the record books.

The Louisville, Ohio native connected on his next five shots, putting his team firmly in control of the contest. His last bucket came with six minutes to play in the game, a two-point jumper that gave the Oilers a 66-56 lead, one they would not relinquish.

In the game, Findlay hit 28-of-58 shots from the floor including 20-of-32 (62.5%) in the second half. The Oilers were hot from deep, canning 12-of-24 (50%) attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Findlay also held a 36-30 rebounding advantage and won the turnover battle, committing 14 miscues compared to 16 for the Bulldogs.

Individually, night belonged to Aljancic. Findlay's freshman poured in 25 points, 20 of which came in the second half, on 10-of-14 shooting and 5-of-7 from three-point range. He also led the team with 11 rebounds in the game, snagging five offensive and six defensive boards.

"Obviously, Will was tremendous tonight", continued Ernst. "He is truly a gamer and his energy was contagious. He has a bright future ahead with the Orange and Black."

That performance comes with historic significance as Aljancic becomes the first player to score at least 25 points in a season-opener since Chris Commons scored 30 against Urbana to begin the 2004-05 season. Deeper than that, the freshman is Findlay's first player to score 25 points in a collegiate debut since John Walsh scored 28 against Hawthorne College in 1977 and is just the fifth player in program history (traced to 1960) to score at least 25 points in a debut. Aljancic is also the first player to record a double-double in a season-opener since Brad Rethman in 2001 and is the freshman to record a double-double in his collegiate debut since Brett Kaple had a 16 point, 10 rebound game against Huntington in 1994.

Senior Nathan Bruns did not have a bad night himself, scoring 20 points on 6-of-10 from the floor and grabbing eight rebounds. He also had a pair of blocks in the game and two steals.

Findlay wraps up their trip to Missouri with a date against the Quincy Hawks on Saturday, Nov. 11. That game will tip off at 1:15 EST.

Freshman to Score 25+ In Findlay Debut
Jerry Carder - 26 vs Tri-State (1964)
Frank Minning - 31 vs Wilberforce (1968)
Marty Arft - 27 vs Wittenberg (1969)
John Walsh - 28 vs Hawthorne Col. (1977)
Will Aljancic - 25 vs Truman State (2023)