GOSHEN, Ind. — Trevor Commissaris scored 28 points, setting a new career high for the second time this season, and went 11-for-12 from the foul line as the Goshen College men's basketball team started conference play with a 90-82 win over Spring Arbor University on Tuesday night in Gunden Gymnasium.

Spring Arbor led 46-41 at the intermission before Goshen scored 12 of the first 15 points in the second half to pull ahead 53-49 and take the lead for good.

"I was very disappointed with our defensive effort in the first half," said Goshen coach Neal Young. "We allowed way too many uncontested shots in the first 10 minutes. Then the last 10 minutes of the half was a struggle because they had so many guys in a rhythm. I felt fortunate to only be down 5 at the half."

Kevin Phillips and Austin Hayden both set new career highs in scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Devin Heath-Granger had a game-high seven assists to go with 11 points, and Dominique Bolden scored 10 to make it five Goshen players in double figures.

"Offensively, our mindset was to pound it inside, and I was very pleased with how patient and unselfish our guys were in executing that consistently over the course of the game," said Young. "We also challenged our guys to come out and play much more aggressively on defensively after halftime and I thought they responded very well."

Both teams shot 51 percent from the floor. Goshen was 31-for-37 (83.8 percent) at the foul line, an area where the Cougars were no slouches, either, going 11-for-14 (78.6 percent).

"Trev (Commissaris) and Kev (Phillips) are a handful on the post," Young said, unwittingly creating a rhyming nickname for his frontcourt. "Those guys did a great job of knowing when to score and when to give it up. When those two guys go 15-for-19 from the field and 13-for-16 from the foul line, we are going to be tough to beat."

The Maple Leafs (8-0, 1-0 Crossroads League) had a 31-30 edge in rebounding and turned the Cougars (4-3, 0-1) over 14 times. Commissaris finished with a game-high nine rebounds, while Hayden pulled down four to set a new career high. Spring Arbor was paced by 20 points from Anthony Qasawa, who drained four three-point shots.

"Conference games are a lot like tournament games," Young explained. "At the end of the day it doesn't really matter how well you play, you just have to find a way to win. I am pleased that we were able to do that tonight."

The Maple Leafs' 8-0 start is the best in school history, which dates to the 1954-55 season. Goshen will look to extend its eight-game winning streak to nine after the Thanksgiving holiday when it travels to Mount Vernon Nazarene on Tuesday, Dec. 1. Goshen returns home for the game after that when it will face St. Francis.

"I am excited for next week," Young said. "We will really see what we are made of having to travel to MVNU for our first true road game of the season, then we get USF at home after that. We get four practices to get ready and we need to approach them with a humble mindset knowing we have to get better every day."

Tip-off on Tuesday night, following Goshen's longest road trip of the season, is set for 7:30 p.m.