SPRING ARBOR, Mich. — After a slow start, the Goshen College men's basketball team caught fire after halftime Tuesday in an 89-79 win at Spring Arbor University.

The host Cougars led 40-33 at the intermission before Goshen (13-10, 5-6 Crossroads League) scored 56 points and sank 68 percent of its field-goal tries (17-of-25) in the second stanza.

"As poorly as we played in the first half, we played that well in the second half," said Goshen head coach Neal Young. "SAU came out the more impressive team and the team with more energy and togetherness. We were lucky to be down seven given how much they controlled the game."

Dominique Bolden scored 23 points and Christian Grider 22 for GC: both players finished two points shy of their career highs. Kevin Phillips posted the game's lone double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Devin Heath-Granger added 11 points and a game-high nine assists.

Spring Arbor (6-17, 0-11 CL) used a 16-3 run to go up by as many as 13 points with 4:17 left in the first half. The hosts maintained their halftime lead for the first 8 minutes of the second half. Grider scored 8 points and Hayden 7 in a 19-2 Goshen spurt that pulled the Leafs ahead 75-60 with four minutes to go.

During that eight-minute run, Goshen made 10 of its 13 field-goal attempts, including eight of its last nine, and scored on eight straight possessions. During the same time span, Spring Arbor was 1-for-14 from the floor.

"Nothing significant was said in the locker room at halftime because the problem was simple: offensively we were playing as five individuals and not aggressive, and defensively we weren't tough enough," Young said. "Our guys understood it, owned it, and then went out and fixed it. Outside of some uncharacteristic turnovers and a couple plays here and there, I was extremely pleased with the second half our guys put together."

Hayden finished with 16 points for Goshen while Caleb Hogans led SAU with 24.

The Cougars finished with a 54-28 advantage on points in the paint, but Goshen came out ahead on the glass, 38-27. Trevor Commissaris added seven caroms while Hayden had six, one short of his career high.

Goshen returns home on Saturday for a meeting with Mount Vernon Nazarene University, where the team will look to get back to .500 at 6-6 in conference play. The game is part of a doubleheader with the women's contest: the women's game starts at 1 p.m. with the men to follow at approximately 3:00.