Tiger Men Finish Tournament Action With Win Over Pacific
San Antonio - The Tiger men's basketball team wrapped up its Trinity University National Invitational with a 70-50 victory over the Pacific (Ore.) Boxers on Thursday afternoon.
Trinity has now won four of its last five games, and today's win upped the team's record to 8-5. Pacific fell to 7-3 with the loss.
Robert Kitzinger and Zach Lambert paced the Tigers with 16 points each. Kitzinger shot 5-10 from the field (3-7 in three-point range), and was also the game's leading rebounder, with seven boards. Lambert went 5-8 from the field (2-3 in three-point range), sank all four free throw attempts, pulled in six rebounds, and recorded two blocked shots.
Ryan Beall hit 4-5 of his shots, and accounted for 11 total points to go with three assists. Heath Hopson scored 10 points, on 5-10 shooting. William Young (two points) shelled out five assists to lead all players.
Marc Eppinger was the Boxers only double-figure scorer, with 12 points.
The Tigers led 34-26 at halftime, shooting 50 percent from the field, and sinking nearly 67 percent of their 3-pointers. Trinity led by as much as 15 points (23-8), with 12 minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
The Boxers took over the lead twice in the second half, the latest with 9:30 left on the clock (46-45). But aided by nearly 64 percent shooting, the Tigers outscored their Oregon opponents 25-4 down the streatch to capture their second win in three games at the tournament.
Trinity's shooting percentage was an important factor in the game, as the Tigers shot 56.5 percent (26-46) from the field, the second-best mark of the season. Beyond the arc, Trinity hit 50 percent (8-16), which tied the season-high. Pacific shot 35.3 percent (18-51) from the field, and was held to 22.2 percent (4-18) on three-point shots. The Tigers led the Boxers 30-23 in total rebounds.
The Tigers return to the court Jan. 13 to host Oglethorpe at 8 p.m. in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game. Trinity stands at 3-1 in SCAC play.
