RICHMOND, Ind. - The Manchester University men's basketball team raced past the Earlham College Quakers by a final score of 73-56 on Saturday, January 13. 

Manchester got off to a slow start as Earlham jumped out to an 8-1 lead after the opening seven minutes of action on Saturday. The Spartans went on an 11-2 run to take a two-point lead with just under six minutes remaining in the first half. MU would go on to take a 38-29 lead at the intermission. 

The Spartans extended their lead to 20 points with 6:39 on the clock thanks to a 25-14 run. Earlham was unable to answer as the Black and Gold hung on for a 73-56 victory to improve to 9-6 overall and 6-2 in HCAC play.

As a team, the Black and Gold shot 45.5% (30-66) on field goals and 34.6% (9-26) from beyond the three-point arc on Saturday. The Spartans scored 40 total points in the paint and outrebounded the Quakers 40-32. 

Bryant Smith (West Lafayette, Ind., Harrison) and Zach Sawyer (Columbus, Ohio, Bishop Watterson) led the Spartan offense on Saturday. Smith finished the game with 26 points, shooting 6-10 from three-point range. Sawyer collected his second double-double of the week after scoring 18 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. He also had a team-high four steals and four assists. Austin Willoughby (Greenwood, Ind., Whiteland Community) and Mitch Mendenhall (New Haven, Ind., Woodlan) contributed seven points apiece during Saturday's win.

Earlham was led by Joffery Nunnally and Ken Walker with 14 points each. Kendell Cave led in rebounds with seven. The Quakers fell to 1-14, 1-7 HCAC. 

Up next, the Spartans host Rose-Hulman on Wednesday, January 13 for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against the Fightin' Engineers in Stauffer-Wolfe Arena.