GARY, Ind. — Xavier Newson hit double figures in the points column for the sixth consecutive game, matching a season high with 21 points, as Goshen College used a second-half run to ease past Indiana University Northwest 97-81 in men's basketball action Wednesday night.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first 15 minutes until the RedHawks (1-4) used a 13-2 spurt to go up 35-28 with 4:34 left in the opening half. Goshen (4-2) answered that with an 11-2 run keyed by six points from Newson to pull away by as many as five before entering the half of 43-41.

IUN hit the first two baskets after the break to take a 45-43 lead, but once the Maple Leafs pulled ahead on a 3-pointer by Kody Chandler at the 16:53 mark they would never trail again. An 8-1 spurt bookended by 3s from Chandler and Conner Funkhouser put Goshen up seven, then a two-minute stretch in which GC sank three straight baskets stretched the lead to 72-57 with 11:12 left.

Funkhouser finished with 14 points, matching Devin Heath-Granger for second-most on the Goshen team, while Kody Chandler added 12 and Billy Geschke added 10. Kevin Phillips was limited to eight points but nabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

Heath-Granger finished with nine assists, one short of his career high. Each team turned the ball over 16 times.

Goshen shot 59 percent from the floor and 67 percent from beyond the arc in the second half: on the evening, Chandler was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range while Funkhouser was 3-for-6.

Darrius Davis scored a team-high 19 for IUN, which saw four players score in double figures but was out-shot 55 percent to 45 percent by the visiting Maple Leafs. No RedHawk grabbed more than five assists.

The victory sends Goshen into conference play on a three-game regular-season winning streak entering next Tuesday's Crossroads League opener slated for 6 p.m. at Huntington. Before that, however, the Maple Leafs play an exhibition game at Oakland, a Horizon League foe, at 7 p.m. Friday. That game will be televised on ESPN3.