(Lake Wales, FL)  The IU South Bend men's basketball team defeated Houghton College 56-48 in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational in Lake Wales, Florida.  With the victory the Titans improve to 4-12 on the season and remain 1-0 in conference play and Houghton College drops to 6-5 overall.

A number of players contributed in the Titan victory led by Ben Werner.  He finished the game with 11 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Titans.  Werner shot 4 of 7 from the field and also dished out 3 assists on the night.  Kyle Heatherly made the most of his minutes and poured in 10 points and pulled down 4 boards.  Dylan Morris played a well-balanced game dishing out a team-high 6 assists and also scored 6 points and pulled down five rebounds for IU South Bend.

Dan Kunde and Josh Stoops played key roles for the Titans and caused a lot of problems for the much smaller Houghton College.  Both Kunde and Stoops scored six points apiece and they combined for a total of 12 rebounds in the victory.

Despite shooting just 3 of 20 from behind the arc and 13-31 from the charity stripe, the Titans were in control most of the game.  IU South Bend outrebounded Houghton College 43 to 27 in the contest.  The Titans shot 20-52 from the field for 38.5%.

Ryan Shay led Houghton College with 16 points and 5 rebounds.  Teammate Mark O'Brien scored 10 points in the losing effort. 

The Titans will resume play and compete in the Embry Riddle Tournament on January 1st as they take on Webber International University with a start time of 5:00 p.m.  EST.