MARION, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men's basketball team opened up the 2020-21 season Friday afternoon with a 77-63 victory over Spring Arbor University inside Luckey Arena as part of the WHAC/CL Challenge.
 
Josh Kline led the Warriors with a team-best 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocks while Cory McKinney had 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Grant Smith added 13 points, five rebounds and three steals in his Tech debut while Rog Stein chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds in his first game with the Warriors.
 
Meeting for the first time since the first round of the 2019 NAIA Division II National Championship, the two teams got off to a sizzling start with the Cougars holding an 18-12 lead just over six minutes into the contest. A triple from freshman Max Perez sparked a 10-0 run for Tech to go up 24-20 at the 10:06 mark in the first half. A bucket from Brandon Durnell, who recorded a game-best 32 points and 16 rebounds, snapped a 4:10 scoring drought for the Cougars who eventually tied the game back up at 26 with 8:20 to go in the opening half. An 8-0 run from the Warriors pushed them ahead 37-33 with 3:15 on the clock, but they would only score once more through the rest of the half as Spring Arbor pulled even thanks to a shot at the buzzer from Joshua Laman to make it 39-all.
 
The Warriors turned up the defensive intensity in the second half as they held the Cougars scoreless for the first 3:41 of the period while going on a 7-0 run. Buckets from Smith and McKinney put the Orange and Black up 54-41 with 12:45 to go for Tech's first double-digit lead of the game. Tech continued to build its lead, holding a 16-point advantage with 9:19 on the clock and the scoreboard reading 62-46. The Cougars attempted to mount a comeback in the final minutes of the game as they cut the deficit to 72-61 with 3:04 to go, but the Warriors would hold their former conference foes to just one more basket, which came with 26 seconds left on the clock as they came out of Indiana Wesleyan with the hard-fought win.
 
Tech (1-0) returns to action Saturday as they take on No. 3-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University in the final game of the 2020 WHAC/CL Challenge. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m. from Luckey Arena.