BEREA, Ky. – The Spalding men's basketball team opened the season with a thriller, defeating Berea College, 85-82, on Saturday night in the Seabury Center. Junior transfer Nick Trisko lead the Golden Eagles with 25 points and 15 rebounds in 31 minutes of action while James Turner added 20 points of his own.
 
In a sloppy first half that saw a lot of fouls called on Spalding, the Golden Eagles fell behind and went to the half down six, 40-34. Berea had all of the momentum going into the halftime break, but Spalding came out and scored 51 second-half points with a clear game plan in mind.
 
The Golden Eagles fed the ball to Nick Trisko down low and he seemingly was hitting the shot or heading to the free-throw line each time down the floor. He finished, shooting 9-of-17 from the floor and 7-of-11 from the charity stripe.
 
Junior, James Turner, was able to use his skills in the open floor and in the half-court to find and create his own shot. He finished with 20 points, his first 20-point game since he scored 22 on January 14, 2014 against Greenville College.
 
Senior guard Brandon Goeing finished with 14 points on 3-of-9 shooting, 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. The Golden Eagles shot just 2-of-14 from behind the arc, but had 20 second-chance points and 30 points in the paint to the Mountaineers 16.
 
The Golden Eagles won their first season-opening game since defeating Shawnee Baptist 92-32 to open the 2009-2010 season. The Golden Eagles will have a few days off before hitting the road again. Spalding will take the hardwood on Wednesday, November 18 at Transylvania for a 7:30 tip-off.