CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The Trevecca Nazarene University men's basketball (5-9, 1-0 G-MAC) started Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play with a 81-69 win at Cedarville University (5-8, 0-1 G-MAC) and the Callan Athletic Center.

Trevecca will host Tennessee Wesleyan College (10-1) on Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7 PM. The Bulldogs are 5-1 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.

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The Trojans are 4-7 all-time against Cedarville, with an 87-69 win in the last meeting, which was in the opening round of the 2015 G-MAC Tournament. The Trojans are 3-1 in the last four meetings with the Yellow Jackets, adding a win (91-79) on Jan. 17, 2015 at Cedarville's Callan Athletic Center last year.

Matt Gamberoni scored the first points of the game with a field goal at the 18:51 mark. It was the senior's only field goal of the game, but it spurred an 8-2 start for the Trojans. Gamberoni led the Trojans in rebounding with eight.

The Trojans held the lead until the Yellow Jackets tied the game at 19-19 at the 7:02 mark of the first half. TNU regained the lead, but CU tied it twice more before taking their first lead on a pair of JC Faubion free throws with 4:10 left in the half.

Trevecca regained the lead, 27-25 with 3:16 left in the half, but Cedarville surged with a 9-0 run for a 34-27 lead with 1:27 left on the first half clock. Tyrell Corlew hit a three to set the halftime score at 34-30 Cedarville.

Sanford (10) for Trevecca and Faubion (11) for Cedarville were the only players to reach double figures in scoring in the first half.

Byron Sanford paced a outstanding second half for the Trojans with 22 points. Jalen Palm added 15 of his 17 points in the second half as well, hitting 4-for-4 from deep.

Cedarville, paced by 12 second half points from Faubion, shot out to their largest lead of the game, 10 points (47-37), with 15:47 to go in the game.

Trevecca responded with a game-changing 24-5 run that put the Trojans up by nine (61-52) with 6:57 to go. Trevecca led by as many as 14, the first at 73-59 with 1:52 to go. The Trojans settled for a 12-point (81-69) victory.

Trevecca outscored Cedarville 51-35 in the second half with 54% (14-26) shooting from the field and 50% (7-14) from beyond the three-point arc.

Byron Sanford led all scorers with 32 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field an the senior hit 14-of-19 at the charity strip. Sanford added five rebounds and four assists. Jalen Palm reached double figures with 17 points and had two steals while hitting 4-of-6 from three-point range. Mac Walden scored 12 and hit three three-pointers.

Trevecca shot 50% (25-50) from the field, 43% (10-23) from three-point range, and 65% (21-32) from the foul line. Cedarville topped the rebounding 40-34, but only shot 40% (25-62) from the field, 21% (6-29) from deep, and 59% (13-22) from the line.