CEDARVILLE, Ohio - It didn't take long for Navy transfer,
Nathan Messer (pictured), to make his presence felt as a member of the Truman men's basketball program. Friday night, the sophomore guard poured in 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting (4-for-9 from three) in just 21 minutes of action as the Bulldogs improved to 3-0 in season openers under
Chris Foster with an 82-70 win over Cedarville in the Fifth Annual Don Callan Classic.
Messer was joined in double-figures by fellow starters,
Cory Myers (16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals) and
Jake Velky (15 points, five boards and two steals), while
Connor Erickson also brought down seven rebounds and
Dwight Sistrunk, Jr. had three dimes to go with seven points and four boards.
In the team head-to-head, Truman put some food on the table with 20 points off the bench to just two by Cedarville. Four Bulldogs contributed to that total including
Billy Daniel (nine),
Kyle Kanaskie (five),
Nikola Pesic (four), and
Jack Green (two). The Purple and White made 46 percent of their field goal attempts (29-of-63) including 40 percent from behind the arc (10-for-25). Truman's offensive attack was pretty balanced throughout the night as it shot 48.5 percent in the first period and 43.3 percent in the final 20 minutes.
It was a game of runs early on as the Yellow Jackets scored the first nine points only to be answered by a 18-4 run from the Bulldogs that lasted just over five minutes. During that stretch, Truman made seven of its nine field goal attempts including all three from range and Myers had a third of those points. However, the home team scored 12 of the next 19 points to even things up for the first time at 25-25. After one more tie (27-27) and two leads for Cedarville (31-30 and 33-32), the Bulldogs ended the half on a quick 8-2 spurt to head into the locker room up five, 40-35.
Out of the intermission, the Yellow Jackets pulled it back to even, 40-40, but the Bulldogs took the jab and countered with a hook. They proceeded to go on a 13-3 run and had their biggest lead of the night thus far at 10, 53-43. Fueling the outburst was 10 of Messer's 18 points as well as three more from Myers. Once again, however, Cedarville took the answer in stride and rattled off 17 of the next 25 points to go ahead by one, 61-60. Coach Foster and his staff then picked the perfect time to use their first timeout of the half. Out of the breather until the final buzzer, the Bulldogs outscored the Yellow Jackets 21-10 and made nine of their 11 attempts from the free throw line.
Next up, Truman will stay in Cedarville to face Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday with the tip set for 3 p.m. eastern time. The Trojans won their season opener against GLVC foe, Maryville, earlier in the night by a score of 72-65.
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