DEERFIELD, Ill. - The Maple Leafs men's basketball team narrowly missed their third win of the season on Friday evening, as the Trinity International Trojans won a back-and-forth game, 87-85.

The Trojans scored the first five points of the game and had a 12-point lead at 28-16. However, the Maple Leafs went on a 12-0 run to tie things up at 28. Goshen took their first lead of the game at 31-30 and led 40-38 at the half.

Just over a minute and a half into the second half, Goshen had an eight-point lead, but this time the Trojans would be the ones coming back.They tied it up at 53 with 15:26 to go and built up a lead to nine points. The lead was still at seven late in the game when the momentum swung back toward GC. An 8-2 Goshen run ended with a three hit by Greg Johnson with 18 seconds to go on a pass from Judah Simfukwe. That pulled Goshen within one at 86-85, and the Leafs called a timeout. After a foul, Trinity Christian hit one of two free throws. Greg Johnson had a three that was blocked in the closing seconds, and the Trojans won 87-85.

"Today we battled back when down on multiple occasions," shared head coach Kyle Capps after the game. "Our assists were high and everyone was sharing the ball." Goshen's 28 assists was a season-high - 11 more than their previous team record this year. The 85 points scored are also a season-high.

Goshen had two twenty point scorers and four double-digit scorers. Elias Ramirez scored 21 points on 6-11 shooting from behind the arc. Isaac Miller had 20 points and was 6-9 from deep. Judah Simfukwe scored 18 points on 8-12 shooting and dished out nine assists. Greg Johnson had 12 points with four rebounds and two steals.

"We have to continue to build on battling back," shared Capps. "Working on close games is our focus."

The Leafs have an opportunity to put these goals into practice shortly. They play at Saint Xavier in Chicago on New Year's Eve. That game will start at 4:00 pm ET. The Leafs face Taylor on the road on January 4.