KOKOMO, Ind. — Christian Grider sank nine of 15 field-goal tries en route to 24 points, tying a career high, and the Goshen College men's basketball team trailed only once in defeating Indiana University Kokomo 83-64 Thursday night on the road at Memorial Gym.

The hosting Cougars took a two-point lead at 2-0 after 86 seconds, but Austin Hayden leveled the score at 2-2 and Conner Funkhouser's bucket with 17:18 left in the half gave Goshen (10-2, 3-0 Crossroads League) a lead it never relinquished. The Maple Leafs pulled ahead by as many as 17 points in the first half and 28 in the second, leading 40-25 at the intermission.

Grider shot 4-for-9 from beyond the arc, with his 12 points on threes matching the total of the entire opposing team. The Cougars entered the game shooting 36.6 percent from distance, 40th best in NAIA Division II and 0.6 percentage points behind Goshen: they finished 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) in that category.

"We executed well once the game got going and we had multiple stretches where we scored it consistently," said Goshen head coach Neal Young. "Tonight was all about getting back on the right track and reestablishing our mindset as a team that will do whatever it takes to contest and rebound. While we weren't perfect by any means, I appreciated the way our guys tried to do that and I do feel we took a step in the right direction."

Conner Funkhouser and Devin Heath-Granger each reached double figures in the scoring column with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Austin Hayden added nine points and a game-high five assists, setting a new career high in the latter category: Goshen had assists on 19 of its 30 field goals and got three of the remaining 11 on second-chance tries.

"It was good to see Grider get his swagger back on the offensive end from a scoring standpoint and I also really liked to see Austin Hayden lead us in assists," Young said. "Everyone knows Austin can really score it, but if he can consistently kick (out) when help comes, he will become a complete offensive player and help us out even more than he already does. Nineteen assists on 30 baskets is about one away from where we need to be, so I would say I was pleased with how we found the open man."

Goshen shot well from all areas of the floor, sinking 52 percent of its field goals and 41 percent of its threes while going 14-of-18 (78 percent) at the foul line. IU Kokomo was 21-for-60 (35 percent) from the floor.

On defense, the Maple Leafs forced 15 giveaways and pulled down 29 defensive rebounds. Trevor Commissaris led the team with six boards and a block.

David Kelly led the Cougars (2-8) with 18 points and nine rebounds, playing 25 minutes off the bench. Goshen travels to Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago on Saturday to close the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule.

"Roosevelt is a tough, defensive-minded team that runs good motion on the offensive end," said Young. They play a similar style to a few teams in our league, so it's a great game to help prepare us for what we will see after the break."

Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. EST (3 p.m. in Chicago) at the Goodman Center.