Nineteenth-ranked Transy (18-3, 9-1 HCAC) has won seven straight games and 10 of its last 11. Bluffton, which opened its season with 13 wins in 14 games, dropped to 15-6 overall and 5-5 in HCAC play. The Beavers have lost three straight HCAC contests.
Junior Joey Searle led the Pioneers with a season-best 23 points, heading four Pioneers in double figures. Marc Bain and Bryan Howard each pitched in 15 points while Matt Finke added 14 points and eight rebounds. Searle also led all rebounders with 10 to go with two blocks and two steals.
Bluffton, which trailed by nine, 41-32, at halftime, got 16 points apiece from Eric Sweet and Scott Bergman and 10 from Justin Rufenacht off the bench. Sweet, who had eight rebounds, went over the 1,000 mark for his career.
Howard is only 42 points away from the 1,000 mark for his Transy career.
Bluffton was zero for eight on its first-half three-point attempts and just one of 18 for the game (5.6 percent) while Transy was 31 of 60 from the field and six of 16 from behind the arc. Transy also had a 37-26 edge on the boards.
Transy will host Hanover on Wednesday in a meeting of the HCAC's top two teams. Hanover entered Saturday play tied for second with Franklin in conference play, two games behind Transy. Four games remain in league action. The Pioneers will be trying to sweep both meetings with the Panthers for the first time since joining the HCAC in 2001-02.