SAN ANTONIO - Trinity University Men's Basketball rallied for an 89-81 victory over in-region contender Sul Ross State University Sunday night in the Bell Center to open the 2021-22 campaign.

The Tigers (1-0) mounted a ferocious comeback just before the under-12 media break in the second half to erase a 14-point deficit in less than five minutes on the clock and notch a critical victory in regional play.

Junior forward Enzo Sechi (Houston, Texas / Taylor) powered Trinity in all facets Sunday night with team-highs of 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists all while shooting nine-of-11 from the floor.

Guards sophomore Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) and first-year Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) joined Sechi in double-figures with 14 points apiece, each shooting over 50 percent from the field and two-for-five from beyond the arc.

Trinity saw 16 different players hit the floor throughout the game, 10 of which logged double-digit minutes while Brown led the playing time column at just 23 minutes.

Trinity Men's Basketball travel up I-10 Tuesday for an exhibition battle with NCAA I University of Texas-San Antonio before heading to Abilene, Texas for matchups with Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry University next weekend.

The Rundown

The Tigers came into Sunday's home-opener locked-and-loaded as they sprinted to an 11-2 margin less than three minutes into the game. Brown logged four of Trinity's 10 fastbreak points in the opening moments though the momentum was created on a strong converted and-one in transition from senior guard Ben Hanley (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound).

The Sul Ross outside scorers made their first appearance following the opening stretch with back-to-back three-pointers before the under-16 intermission and slow down the runaway Tigers, 13-8 TU.

After a bucket from sophomore forward Abdullah Roberts (Houston, Texas / HCYA) regained Trinity's nine-point advantage, 18-9, around the 13-minute mark, the Lobos continued to find success outside the arc to the tune of an 11-0 run in less than 90 seconds and hand the Tigers their first deficit of the game heading into the under-12 media break at 20-18.

Both squads settled into the inevitable back-and-forth script over the next eight minutes. Over this stretch, eight different Tigers found the bottom of the net, mostly by converting on free throws after forcing Sul Ross into foul trouble early on.

The Lobos found themselves in a seven-point advantage with just over five minutes before the end of act one but with under one minute in the first half, Sechi collected four of his 20 points including a heavily-contested buzzer-beater from the right elbow to trim the margin to just one, 45-44, in favor of Sul Ross.

A tale of two halves became the storyline early in the second as the Tigers went through nearly a four-minute scoring drought and ceded a 14-point margin to their American Southwest Conference adversaries with approximately 12 minutes left to play.

Cue the San Antonio-native, Brown, with a knockdown three-pointer from the right wing to bring the Trinity student section back to life and ignite a 19-1 outburst in less than five minutes. Roberts, Sechi and senior forward Michael Marquez (Anthem, Ariz. / Anthem Prep) established the inside presence with eight combined points during the run and drawing a pair of fouls before Brown bookended the run with another three-ball.

Harvey and Sechi took care of the air and ground games, respectively, in the closing minutes as the duo combined for 15 points over the remaining seven minutes and secure the victory.

Notable Numbers

The Tigers nearly tripled Sul Ross in transitition (24-9) as well as nearly double in paint points (46-24).

Sechi logged his first 20-point effort of his collegiate career after coming within one bucket of the 20-point threshold three times during the 2020-21 campaign.

All nine boards of Sechi's team-leading rebounding effort came in the second half as part of his command inside late in the game.

Trinity also out-shot the Lobos 48 percent to 39 percent from the field despite just a six-for-20 effort from beyond the arc for the Tigers.

Coach Speak

"Awesome to start the season with a win against a tough Sul Ross team," Head Coach Jimmy Smith said following the victory to open his second campaign at the helm. "They are one of the better teams in the ASC year-in and year-out so we knew it would be a battle."

"We feel like we have a lot of quality depth and I thought that showed itself tonight," Coach Smith continued. "A lot of things to clean up but also a lot to be excited about."

Up Next

Trinity Men's Basketball pays a visit to the UTSA Roadrunners Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. CT tip-off in exhibition play.

The Tigers then hit the road to Abilene to visit to more in-region ASC competitors in Hardin-Simmons and McMurry.