GOSHEN, Ind. — Xavier Newson scored a career-high 25 points Monday night as Goshen eased past IU Kokomo 96-87 in non-conference men's college basketball at Gunden Gymnasium.

The Maple Leafs (9-5) got double-figure scoring from five players for the third game in a row as Kevin Phillips added 20, Dominique Cartier 13, and Conner Funkhouser and Christian Grider scored 10 each. Junior point guard Devin Heath-Granger racked up a game-high 10 assists, matching his career high and slotting into 10th place in school history with 302 career dimes.

Goshen led for most of the first half, save about three minutes, but was never able to pull ahead by more than seven points and took a 44-40 advantage into halftime. Newson scored a team-high 17 points in the first 20 minutes, but didn't have the game high at halftime because Cougar junior Trent Elliott tossed in 19.

The Maple Leafs scored on each of their first nine trips down the floor after halftime, opening up their largest lead of the game at 66-51 some six minutes in, and never allowed the gap to get smaller than six points.

Eighteen of Phillips' points came after the break as the senior went 8-for-9 from the paint to go with six rebounds and two foul shots. GC made 18 of its 29 tries from the floor and went 14-for-18 from the line in the final 20 minutes to go with 12 points off eight turnovers.

"Tonight was all about proving to ourselves that we could summon the mental and physical energy to finish a three-game, three-day stretch on a high note, and we did that," said Goshen coach Neal Young. "Even though we were ahead at halftime, I thought IUK was the team with more physicality and more passion. In that regard I was very pleased with how we answered after halftime."

IU Kokomo (7-7) got a game-high 34 points from Elliott, who went 13-for-22 from the floor and 8-for-12 behind the 3-point arc while playing 34 minutes. Antoin Clifton scored 18 points off the bench while Skyler Smith added nine in the final 2:16.

Phillips added a game-high nine rebounds and GC finished the game with 21 assists against nine turnovers. Heath-Granger and Cartier led all players with three steals each. Thirteen players from each team saw the floor, with all of them playing at least 82 seconds.

"Kevin and X flat-out imposed their will tonight, and the rest of our team was unselfish and patient enough to keep playing through them," Young said. "We just need to keep the mindset of getting a little bit better every day and make conscious effort to start games with focus and intensity. If we do that I think we have a chance to be a very good team."

Each team shot better than 50 percent from the floor, with the Maple Leafs checking in at 57.4 percent and the Cougars at 53 percent. The two sides combined to go 37-for-61 (60.7 percent) after halftime. IUK made 15 three-pointers to Goshen's eight, but saw that edge undone when the Maple Leafs sank 18 of 24 foul shots. The Cougars went to the line six times and made two.

Goshen is idle for nine full days over Christmas before hosting top-ranked Cornerstone at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 29.