Jan. 15, 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - NAIA No. 8 Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) had a battle Monday (Jan. 14) night with an extremely talented TranSouth opponent in No. 12 Lambuth (Tenn.).  Lambuth came out on top 90-84 to improve to 13-1 overall and 5-0 in the league.

It was very physical early with each team fighting back and forth trading baskets for much of the first half. It was knotted up at 20 with 8:50 to play in the opening half after Brian Oduor hit a pair of free throws for the Trojans. From then on in the first, Trevecca and Lambuth traded the lead until the Trojans' struggles at the free throw line began to really hit the Trevecca hard. The Trojans, who shot 7 of 16 from the foul line, trailed 39-35 at the half.

Lambuth's team, filled with several strong additions to a team that finished second in the conference last season, showed that they were a deep squad playing eleven different players in the first half. For Trevecca, Oduor came off the bench to lead all scorers at the break with 12. Collins Onyando added 11 of his own at the break to go along with 5 rebounds.

The Eagles came out firing in the second half with a 9-2 run. At 48-37, the Trojans found themselves down 11 points and needing some offense. Rick James did just that with three big free throws and a couple buckets from Oduor. James' success at the foul line and from the field kept Trevecca in it. On one run, he had scored 11 of the Trojans' 13 points. The Eagle lead hovered around six points for several minutes of the second half with TNU trailing 56-50 at the 11:57 mark.

The Trojans continued to claw at the Lambuth lead getting it down to five, 74-69 with 3:45 to play. TNU had three straight three-pointers from De'Jon Everson, James, and Josh Helton, but not being able to hit their free ones and being outrebounded 43-32 proved to be the difference as the Trojans fell 90-84. Trevecca was 25-40 (62.5%) from the foul line on the evening.

James and Oduor each finished with 22 for the Trojans who dropped to 12-2 on the season and 4-1 in TSAC play. Onyando also added a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Lambuth advanced to 13-1 on the year and remained undefeated in the conference after five contests.