TIFFIN, Ohio - Senior Joe Graessle scored 30 points as the Tiffin University men's basketball team (1-0) took a hard fought 101-86 win over Bluefield State (0-1), Sunday afternoon at the Gillmor Center.
Tiffin came out of the gates flying, jumping to an early 16-4 lead. Bluefield State then reeled off nine straight points. Geron Tate hit a 3-pointer to make it 16-13 with 14:51 to go.
Over the next three minutes, the Dragons outscored the Big Blues 16-2 to lead by 17. TU shot 65.5% from the floor and outrebounded BSC by three.
Tiffin looked to have the game in hand, up 63-48 with 14:58 to go. Bluefield State started chipping away at the lead. Over the next 11 minutes, the Big Blues outscored the Dragons 27-14.
Remar Brothers hit a pair of free throws to make it 77-75 at the 3:48 mark. TU had just a three point lead, 81-78 with 3:02 left. Tiffin then scored eight straight points to put the game away.
For Tiffin, Graessle had 30 points and seven steals while junior Ashton Khan had 18 points and five assists. Graessle now has 1608 points, just the fifth TU player to score more than 1600 points. Senior Mike Boan had 11 points, nine rebounds and blocked two shots and freshman Nick Ellison came off the bench for eight points and eight rebounds.
For Bluefield State, Treon Claiborne had 24 points and 10 rebounds, Tate scored 18 points and Shakir Dunning had 17 points.
Tiffin remains home, Wednesday, Nov. 20, taking on Lambton. The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Live stats will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/tiffin/.
-TIFFIN UNIVERSITY-