MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team put the wraps on non-conference play on Tuesday night with an 87-64 win over Trinity Bible College at James Gremmels Court. The victory lifts the Cougars to 9-9 overall on the season.

Despite a pair of three-pointers from Jarrett Kujava in the first 90 seconds, it wasn't totally smooth sailing for Minnesota Morris throughout. Trinity Bible had weapons on offense and a Marcellus Mencarini triple gave the Lions their largest lead, 18-14, with seven minutes gone in the game.

The bench played a big part in the win for Minnesota Morris and it was Jase Nelson coming off the pine to convert a three-point play to knot the score at 20-20 before giving the Cougars the lead for good with a three-pointer at the 10:58 mark of the first half. Gus Gunderson and and Tarik Iyob then sparked a 10-0 run to increase the margin to 33-22 and a late Brian LaRoche, Jr. layup just before the buzzer made it 46-32 at the half.

An 11-2 run by Trinity Bible in the first five minutes of the second half brought the Lions back within eight, 51-43, but LaRoche, Jr. answered back with five points in a 10-0 run as the visitors went more than four minutes without a point. In the closing minutes, Blake Munson hit a pair of threes and Kujava added one more in a 9-0 Cougar run that put the game away.

Five Minnesota Morris players ended in double figures, led by Ian Fahje's 17 points and nine rebounds. Nelson had 13, both Kujava and LaRoche, Jr. had 12, and Pal Dak finished with 10.  

Minnesota Morris wraps up a six-game home stand on Saturday afternoon, hosting Crown College at 2:45 p.m.