MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - It was a two score game within the final minute, but Mount Vernon Nazarene pulled out a 93-84 win over Goshen on Wednesday night. Jacob Carlson had 28 points and made seven three-pointers in the loss. The 28 points is the most by a GC player in any game this season.

Mount Vernon started with a 25-11 lead - at which point Goshen head coach Dwight Gingerich called a timeout and made a series of substitutions. The Leafs then went on a 31-16 run and took a 42-41 lead with under a minute to go in the half when Deecon Hill hit a three. Hill went 3-3 in the first half - all behind the arc - and had nine points. MVNU scored four to close the half and led 45-42.

A 10-0 Cougars run spanned across the halves and they led 51-42 before the Leafs broke the streak. Goshen pulled within one again with under 15 minutes to play before MVNU immediately answered with a 13-0 run.

The lead hung around ten points for a while but Goshen never fully went away. A three-pointer from Marcus Northern with just under a minute to play made it a six-point game. Goshen used a timeout, but a foul shortly after they resumed play resulted in two made free-throws for Peyton Heiss and the Cougars. They hit their next four free-throws as well and ended up with a nine-point win.

Carlson and Heiss led the show for their respective teams. Carlson scored 28 points in his 27 minutes off the bench. He was 7-12 from three, 9-15 overall and 3-3 at the free-throw line. He added three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal and had just one turnover. This was the most threes by a GC player in a Crossroads League game since Elias Ramirez hit eight against MVNU on February 12, 2022. Marcus Northern and Kevin Cota each had double-doubles. Northern had 13 points and ten rebounds while Cota had ten points and 12 rebounds. Kamren Williams also scored in double figures with 13 points. Peyton Heiss had 32 points and 12 rebounds for MVNU and went 13-14 at the line.

The Cougars were 26-30 at the line while Goshen was 7-14. The Maple Leafs led in field goal percentage (44% to 39%) and three-point percentage (41% to 37%). MVNU had a narrow 45-44 edge in rebounding and GC had a slim advantage in assists, 20-19. Goshen's 15 three-pointers were their most in a regulation conference game since January 12, 2019 against Saint Francis.

Goshen hosts the top-ranked team in the NAIA, Grace College, on Saturday, January 17, at 3:00 pm.