NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Manchester University men's basketball team began the New Year on a high-note on Sunday afternoon after holding on to down the Transylvania Pioneers 88-80 in Stauffer-Wolfe Arena.

The Black & Gold used a barrage of threes in the opening period to build sizeable lead against Transylvania. First-year Bryant Smith (West Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) led the long-range assault with five three-pointers in the 1^st half. He made his first four three-point attempts. Smith had 17 points at the intermission. CJ Hampton (Hammond, Ind./Griffith) also knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the 1^st half. The Spartans finished 9-15 from beyond the three-point arc, while also shooting a blistering 59.4 percent (19-32) from the field over the game's first 20 minutes.

Manchester led 51-33 at the break.

Following halftime, Transylvania slowly eroded Manchester's lead. The Pioneers used an initial 16-5 surge to cut the Spartans' lead back down to 10 points. After a couple of Manchester baskets, the Pioneers used another 8-2 run to cut the deficit to just seven points.

Manchester was able to push its lead back into double figures, however, another late burst saw the Pioneers trail by just four points, 82-78, with 32 seconds left in regulation.

The Black & Gold stepped up at the free throw line down the stretch, converting 9-of-10 foul shot attempts to seal the win.

The Spartans led for 38:58 in Sunday's contest.

All five Spartan starters scored in double figures. Bryant Smith led the way with 20 points. Smith finished 7-13 shooting and 6-10 from distance. Brandon Christlieb (Ashley, Ind./Prairie Heights) added 19 points and six rebounds. Christlieb shot 11-12 from the charity stripe. CJ Hampton scored 17 points and added seven rebounds and four assists. Quentez Columbus (South Bend, Ind./Adams) narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine assists. He also snatched seven boards. Ian Snelling (Erlanger, Ky./Dixie Heights) scored 13 points in the winning effort.

The Spartans finished Sunday's game shooting 28-58 from the floor – good for 48.3 percent. The Spartans shot 11-23 (47.8 percent) from three and were 21-26 (80.8 percent) from the free throw line.

Transylvania shot 31-74 (41.9 percent) from the field and were limited to just 3-19 shooting (15.8 percent) from three-point territory.

Sunday's win over Transylvania was the first in the head-to-head series for Manchester since February 18, 2017. The victory snapped a six-game skid in the series.

Manchester (3-8, 2-2 HCAC) will travel to rival Anderson University on Wednesday January 5 for a 7:30 p.m. showdown with the Ravens.

Transylvania (6-5, 1-3 HCAC) will travel to Earlham College on Wednesday January 5.