Cougars Down Michigan-Dearborn with Balanced Attack


	Cougar Basketball Game Recap Cougars Down Michigan-Dearborn with Balanced Attack written by Dave Parsons, Sports Information Director Game Boxscore MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (11-12-2011) - The Mount Vernon Nazarene University men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and then used a balanced scoring attack to down the University of Michigan-Dearborn 78-57 on Saturday afternoon in the annual MVNU Homecoming game. The Cougars (4-1) rattled off the first 11 points of the game as senior forward Danil Zakhlebnyy *(left)* converted a three-point play, made a jumper, and drilled a 3-pointer to fuel most of the early surge. Junior guard Ben Severns also hit a trey. The visiting Wolves (0-4) finally got on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer by Charles Baskin at the 16:30 mark and Julius Porter's trey with 14:04 left in the half made the score 14-6. From there, MVNU used a 29-15 run to close the first half as the Cougars took a commanding 43-21 lead to the locker room at the break. Zakhlebnyy led MVNU with 13 first-half points as he went 3-for-3 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Severns added 11 points, and junior guard Bryce Barnes also tossed in 10 points. The Cougars shot 44 percent from the field (11-for-25), 53.3 percent from 3-point range (8-for-15), and 68.4 percent from the free throw line (13-for-19). MVNU's lead grew to as much as 28 points on three occasions in the second half before the Cougars emptied the bench and cruised to the 78-57 victory. Zakhlebnyy finished with 17 points to lead all scorers, while Barnes added 16 points. Severns tallied 14 points, and senior guard Robbie Taylor, who was honored prior to tip-off for scoring his 1,000th point in the team's previous game *(picture below)*, contributed 11 points. Sophomore post Caleb Williams also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. MVNU shot 44.4 percent from the field (24-for-54), 36 percent from 3-point range (9-for-25), and 72.4 percent from the free throw line (21-for-29). Porter and Jamiel Strickland each scored 10 points to pace Michigan-Dearborn. The Wolves shot 35.4 percent from the field (17-for-48), 17.6 percent from 3-point range (3-for-17), and 71.4 percent from the free throw line (20-for-28). "We got out of the gates very well today and I thought our energy was outstanding by our first five," said MVNU coach Matt Moore. "When we hit shots, we are pretty difficult to defend. We had a balanced attack early with Danil and Caleb hitting a few shots to go with our guard play of Ben and Bryce. We rebounded the ball much better than we have in the past few games, but we still need to do a better job of limiting our opponents' second chances." The Cougars will return to action on Tuesday when MVNU will play a non-conference game at Cedarville University at 7:30 p.m.

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