PHOTOS

HANOVER, Ind. – The Earlham College men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) contest 64-58 against Hanover at Collier Arena on Saturday.

Senior Taylen Alexander and freshman Isaiah Waire tallied 18 and 11 points respectively to lead Earlham. Freshman Alex Topalovic added seven points and four rebounds.

Hanover senior Wes McKinney led the Panthers with 16 points with all but one point coming from three-pointers.

The Panthers (7-6, 5-1) led by as many as 11 points (33-22) in the first half. Trailing by that margin with three minutes to play before intermission, the Quakers went on a 9-2 run to end the half capped by a three-pointer as time expired from Waire. Hanover led 36-31 at the break.

Earlham scored the first four points of the second half on a free throw from junior Kamari Hunter and a triple from Alexander to get the deficit within a single point at 36-35.

The Panthers then hit two of their nine three-pointers to take a seven point edge with 16:17 to play.

Freshman Nick Sands hit a three-pointer to get the Quakers within four points (42-38). The Hanover lead would blossom to as many as 15 points, but Earlham kept fighting and got within six points on two occasions.

Both teams hit 22 field goals, but Hanover made up the six-point difference by making two more three-pointers and two more free throws. In total, the Panthers connected on 9-24 attempts from distance compared to 7-21 for Earlham.

Hanover held a slight edge in rebounding 25-32. Both teams grabbed seven steals with Earlham forcing the Panthers into 16 turnovers.

The Quakers continue their mini road trip on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. game at Defiance.