DEERFIELD, Ill. - In their opening game of the 2019 calendar year the TIU Men's Basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 74-72 loss to the Goshen College Maple Leafs on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite not leading throughout any of the game the Trojans continued to battle during the entirety of the game. After trialing by as much as 13 in the second half the Trojans used two late rallies, rattling off 10 straight points to make it a 66-65 game with just a few minutes remaining.

After a Brandon Lawani bucket with less than a minute remaining tied the game 72-72 and gave the Trojans a chance to win their first game of 2019. After a few missed opportunities in the final moments it was the Maple Leafs who converted their late opportunity to take a 74-72 lead with 3.4 seconds to go.

Jeremy Carlyle had a buzzer beating opportunity to win the game for TIU but the last second shot glanced off the rim, handing TIU a 74-72 defeat.

The Trojans will look to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to Davenport, Iowa to take on St. Ambrose University.