Men's Basketball: Titans Fall at Hiram

HIRAM, Ohio - The Westminster College men's basketball team fell, 81-62, at Hiram Wednesday night in a non-conference contest. The Titans dropped to 3-5 overall and the Terriers improved to 4-4.


The Titans led 9-2 early in the first half after a jumper from junior Anthony Thomas (New Castle, PA / Union) with 16:53 on the clock. Hiram battled back and took its first lead of the game at 25-23 after a jumper with 6:37 remaining in the half. The Terriers pulled away with a 20-8 run and led 45-31 at halftime.


After intermission, Westminster came out with a 12-2 run to cut Hiram's leads to 47-43 with 13:55 remaining. The Titans took the lead, the first time since the 4:46 mark in the first half, when junior Dak Britt (Battle Creek, MI / Battle Creek) found senior Reuben King (Tarentum, PA / Highlands) for a layup, giving Westminster a 55-54 lead at the 9:51 mark. Hiram, however, regrouped and outscored the Titans 26-8 for the remainder of the game.


Thomas led Westminster with 16 points, while shooting 5-for-11 from the court. Thomas was also perfect from the free-throw line (6-6). Senior Doug Smith (South Park, PA / South Park) followed with 13 points. Sophomore Mark Hockenberry (Hanover, PA / South Western) scored a career-high 11 points (5-6) and grabbed down a team- and career-high five rebounds. Hockenberry also pocketed a game- and career-high two steals. Thomas dished out a team-high four assists.


For the game, Hiram outshot Westminster 50.0% (30-60) to 33.3% (19-57).


Westminster will host Penn State-Dubois on Saturday at 2 p.m.