SAN ANTONIO – The Tiger men's basketball team opened up the Leslie Robinson Classic with a 108-76 victory over Birmingham-Southern College (AL) on Friday evening.

Trinity extended its season-opening streak to six consecutive wins with its highest scoring output of the year. This marks the first time a Tiger team has opened a season 6-0 since 2007-08.

Trinity shot a blistering 56% from the field in the game, holding Birmingham-Southern to 37% shooting that included just 24% shooting from three-point range. The Tigers also scored 38 points off of 21 turnovers by the visitors, contributing to a 25-6 advantage on fast break points.

The Rundown

After a slow start by both teams, Trinity exploded for 13 unanswered points to turn a two-point advantage into a 22-7 lead with more than 11 minutes left in the first half. Sophomore guard Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) scored five points to lead the way for the Tigers.

The scoring was even over the next several minutes, but the lead remained 15 at the 6:29 mark as junior forward Enzo Sechi (Houston, Texas / Taylor) notched a layup following an offensive foul by Birmingham-Southern. The Panthers then scored five straight to cut it to 10 approaching the five-minute mark, but Trinity went 4-of-4 at the line over its next two possessions and the lead was back to 14 points.

Birmingham-Southern stayed in the game with its three-point shooting, and the visitors were eventually able to trim the deficit to single digits in the final 90 seconds. Junior guard Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / MP Country Day) scored back-to-back layups on a pair of assists from Brown and the Tiger lead was back to 13 with 42 seconds remaining in the first half. The Panthers hit another three on its final possession to make it a 48-38 Tiger advantage at the break.

The second half began with Birmingham-Southern hitting a quick three-pointer to cut the lead to seven, but that would be the closest the Panthers would get the entire game. Trinity answered with five straight fast break points to push the lead back to 12 less than a minute into the final period, punctuated by an and-one three-point play from junior guard AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson).

The lead was still 11 just over a minute later when Clark continued his scoring spurt with six unanswered points that included a four-point play to put Trinity in front 63-46 with just under 17 minutes left in the game.

The Panthers made a couple of baskets to get within 13, but the Tigers roared back with 10 straight points to make it a 73-50 lead with under 13 minutes to go, effectively sealing the win as the Panthers never got closer than 20 the rest of the way. Sechi and Brown had four points each, while Clark had a dunk and an assist during the run.

The last time BSC got within 20 points came at the 6:22 mark of the game, but the Tigers promptly scored 10 of the next 11 points over a span of less than three minutes to push the lead to 29 points. Trinity scored the final six points of the game to finish off the 32-point victory.

Numbers to Note

Clark and Jenkins paced Trinity with 17 points each in just 20 and 24 minutes, respectively, combining to shoot 13-of-21 from the field. Clark also added four steals to go with four assists, while both Tiger players pulled down four rebounds.

Brown led the team with career-highs with both eight rebounds and six assists, paired with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting in just 19 minutes on the floor.

Sechi hit 7-of-12 from the field for a 15-point night, adding seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

A total of 23 different Tigers played in the game, and the bench was led by a seven-point night from junior guard Griffin Levine (Dallas, Texas / Yavneh). Senior guard Jordan Lippman (Austin, Texas / Round Rock) notched six points in just four minutes.

Coach Speak

"Great team win," Head Coach Jimmy Smith began. "Our starters go us off to a great start in both halves and we had great contributions off the bench. I think the 25 assists speaks to how unselfish these guys are!"

Up Next

Trinity will cap off action at the Leslie Robinson Classic by hosting Carleton College (MN) at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.