Story written by: Sports Information Intern, Amber Dieringer

DEERFIELD, Ill.—In honor of their three seniors on Senior Day, the TIU Men's Basketball team fought hard to earn their second victory against conference opponent Robert Morris University this season with a final score of 105-96.

Greg Carlyle racked up an impressive 27 points, and Tyrone Carey finished just behind him with 25 points, while also tallying 9 boards. Three other players would score double figures as well, with Jeremy Carlyle tallying 19 points, Nate Schmidt with 15 points, and O'Shae Williams with 11 points.

"Robert Morris played well tonight, but I thought we saw the love, joy, and toughness of our TIU Basketball family take over late in the game on a night we got to honor our three seniors," said Head Coach Boomer Roberts.

From the beginning of the game, TIU kept the score close but were down for the majority of the first half, showing a lackluster defensive performance.

However, as the half winded down, the Trojans took the lead back as they stepped up their defense while putting a lot of pressure on the Eagles. The Trojans ended the half up by one point, after a couple crucial buckets by Carey and J. Carlyle.

RMU came out of the half with a competitive spark as they stole back the lead and went on a run to force the Trojans down 59-71 with 12:20 left. The Trojans stayed mentally tough and rallied, making some strong offensive plays to shift the momentum back in their favor.

"We outscored them by 16 in the final 7 minutes, sparked by a huge And-1 play from D.J. Ostrander and some big boards by Sam Schroeder, who was really leading our huddles," Roberts added. "Tye was incredible again, and Greg and Jeremy were also really good again down the stretch. Nate was great off the bench as well."

The win was truly a team effort, led by a strong and smart offense with quick ball movement and aggressive plays.

"We weren't as good defensively as we have been during this stretch of wins, but we shot 54% from the field, 59% from three, 85% from the line, and had 24 assists, which shows the trust and confidence of our group," Roberts also remarked. "I'm very proud of them, and excited about this huge week ahead."

The team faces two more conference opponents, playing Holy Cross in Indiana on Wednesday, February 14, and Olivet Nazarene in Bourbonnais on Saturday, February 17 to wrap up the 2017-18 regular season.