San Antonio - The Trinity Tigers men bounced back from a first-day loss to defeat the Willamette (Ore.) Bearcats 77-71 at the Trinity University National Invitational on Wednesday night.

Trinity, which was edged 57-55 in overtime Tuesday by George Fox (Ore.), improved to 7-5. Willamette now stands at 2-9.

The first half of Wednesday's game set the tone as the Tigers held a 40-22 lead at the intermission. Zach Lambert scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the opening stanza. Lambert's point total was just one below his season-high of 23 points. He shot 8-12 from the field in the game, hit 4-7 in three-point range, grabbed six rebounds, and dished out three assists.

Trinity rolled out to a 25-point lead in the second half (50-25), with 14 minutes remaining. But Willamette outscored the host team 34-17 and closed to within eight points (59-67), at 3:24. The Tigers lead diminished to only five points (73-68) with 24 seconds on the clock, but Trinity's Heath Hopson was fouled twice down the stretch, and sank four free throws to close out the game.

Ryan Beall added 13 points, and led the game with nine rebounds, as well as making five assists and two steals. Hopson accounted for 12 points, shooting 3-4 from the field, and sinking 6-6 free throws. He also pulled in seven rebounds, and stole the ball on two occasions. 

Sean Dart and Ryan Meehan led Willamette with 13 points each, while Terrell Malley and  Taylor Mounts had 11 apiece.

The Tigers shot 44.3 percent (27-61) from the field, and 40 percent (10-25) of 3-pointers. The Bearcats hit 42.9 percent (27-63) of their total shots, and 33.3 percent (10-30) of 3-point buckets. Trinity led 40-35 in rebounds, and 16-12 on offensive boards.

Trinity closes out the tournament Thursday by taking on Pacific (Ore.) at 4 p.m. in Sams Gym. When the tournament concludes tomorrow, a total of 14 games will have been played in Sams and Webster Gyms since Tuesday.