San Antonio - Trinity's men's basketball team edged Austin College 54-53 in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference thriller that came down to the final shot on Saturday night.

Trinity (6-4, 3-1 SCAC) nearly let an 11-point halftime lead slip away, but Austin's final shot bounced in and out at the buzzer to give the Tigers the win.

The two teams were evenly matched for most of the first half, but Trinity started to pull away at the end of the period, thanks to a 10-1 run that made it 36-23 in the final minute.

The Kangaroos scored the first seven points of the second half, cutting the lead to just four with just over three minutes gone by in the period.  Austin got to within two points on a couple of occasions at the 10:11 and 4:33 marks, but the Tigers never gave up the lead. 

Jonathan Wilt converted a three-point play with 3:01 remaining to put Trinity up by five, but Austin College came right back with another basket to cut the lead to three.  After hitting just 1-2 free throws on consecutive possessions, Austin had clawed to within a point with 45 seconds. 

Trinity was held scoreless after Wilt's free throw at the 3:01 mark, missing its final five shots to allow Austin back into contention. 

Wilt led Trinity with 13 points and 14 rebounds - including nine offensive boards.  Wilt hit 5-8 from the field and 3-4 from the free throw line. 

Heath Hopson had another strong game off the bench for the Tigers, scoring 11 points in 19 minutes.  Zach Lambert contributed nine points and nine rebounds, while Robert Kitzinger finished with eight points.  Ryan Beall added six points, and William Young had a team-best six assists.  Beall and Young also led Trinity with three steals each.

Alen Michael paced Austin with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Josh Saunders finished with 11 points and seven boards.

Trinity will host its National Invitational beginning on Tuesday, with 13 total teams playing over a three-day span.  The Tigers will face off against George Fox at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, then host Willamette on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.  The team will finish its week with a game against Pacific (OR) at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.