Cedarville, Ohio – The University of Findlay men's basketball team, ranked no. 17 in the country, took down the Cedarville Yellow Jackets on the road on Saturday, Jan. 4 in the Callan Athletic Center. The Oilers trailed early, but rallied to earn an impressive 86-74 victory to improve to 12-1 on the year and remain perfect at 5-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Cedarville, which had won six-of-eight against the Oilers before today, fall to 7-5 overall and 2-3 in the G-MAC.
Playing in their home gymnasium, Cedarville looked comfortable early on, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of play. With all that early momentum, that was as large as the lead would get for CU.
Findlay battled back to take its' first lead of the game at 27-26 and ultimately held a 41-39 lead at the midway point of the game.
The second half was played cleanly, with each team committing just four turnovers, but it was Findlay that was able to extend the lead and control the game thanks to better accuracy from the field, The Oilers shot 54% in the final 20 minutes while Cedarville hit just 44%. That difference was enough for Findlay to outscore CU by ten in the second half and go on to earn a 12-point victory.
The contest featured five lead changes and was a bit of a back-and-forth affair at times, but in totality, it was Findlay that controlled the game, leading for 64% of the afternoon in a game that, at one time, saw UF leading by 21 points.
From the field, Findlay shot 37-of-67 (55%) and made 9-of-16 (56%) from three-point range while Cedarville made 30-of-65 (46%) including 9-of-24 (38%) from deep. On the glass, the Oilers also held the advantage, winning the rebounding battle 38-to-30.
Junior Jagger Landers put together a career performance, shooting 8-of-14 on the way to a 22-point effort, the most points in a game of Landers' college career. He led the team with four three-pointers made and also chipped in with three steals and three rebounds.
Sophomore Will Aljancic scored 13 points and led the way with eight rebounds while freshman Ian Ioppolo scored 12 and freshman Alex Kendall scored ten.
Junior Mason Brandt, who had a pair of highlight dunks on the day, scored seven points and had six rebounds while sophomore Anthony Johnson had six rebounds and a team-leading five assists.
The Oilers, which have now won eight straight, remain on the road for a G-MAC affair on Thursday, Jan. 9 with a game against Thomas More. That affair will tip off at 7:30 pm.
