KERRVILLE, Texas - Trinity University Men's Basketball opened the 2021-22 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule with a 95-84 victory in overtime on the road at Schreiner University Saturday night.

The Tigers (7-1, 1-0 SCAC) were willed to victory in the first overtime of the season by junior forward Enzo Sechi (Houston, Texas / Taylor) who posted a persistent 33-point double-double. The junior collected his first collegiate 30-point performance and first collegiate double-double in the contest. Sechi completed his performance with a pair of blocked shots and drew 12 of Schreiner's 28 fouls over Saturday's 45 minutes.

Sophomore guard Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) notched his third career 20-point performance, and in back-to-back contests, with 21 to go along with a career-high five steals, out of Trinity's team total of 12 swipes on the defensive end.

Senior guard Ben Hanley (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) joined Sechi and Brown in double-figures with 16 points, 12 of which came from outside the arc, seemingly all in important points of the game.

Trinity Men's Basketball resumes SCAC play with a weekend road trip that features Austin College and Centenary College, starting in Sherman, Texas on Friday, December 17.

The Rundown

Brown brought the momentum early as he scored all of Trinity's first five points in just 90 seconds of action. Sechi proceeded with Brown's spark to notch 10 of the next 13 points for the Tigers, the remaining three points scored by Hanley for Trinity's first double-digit lead at 16-6 (15:08).

On the other side of the game's second media break, senior forward David Nickell (Humble, Texas / Atascocita) opened an 8-2 spurt in which sophomore guard Ashton Owens (Trinity, Ala. / West Morgan) recorded four points, including a free throw that returned the Tigers to a double-digit margin at the halfway point in the first, 26-16.

Sechi reached his first-half high of 15 points with just-under seven minutes to go on a three-pointer for the largest Trinity lead of the period, 13 points, 34-21.

Hanley returned with another from beyond the arc moments later to put the Tigers up again by 13 with six minutes remaining, but the Mountaineers put together a late rally directly after with a 14-2 outbreak over the next four minutes, answered only by a layup from junior guard Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / MP Country Day), which dwindled the Trinity lead to just one point with two minutes left.

Brown collected the other five of his 10 first-half points in the final 90 seconds of the half to overcome a trio of made Schreiner free throws in the waning moments for a three-point halftime margin, 44-41.

The Tigers trailed for the first time in Saturday night's contest two minutes into the latter frame, though only for 13 seconds as Hanley became the third Trinity player to reach double-digits with yet another three-pointer. Sechi followed up the next time down the floor with a three-ball of his own before both squads entered the under-16 intermission knotted up at 52-52.

Sechi reached the 20-point threshold in the midst of a back-and-forth battle with a pair of free throws just before the 12-minute mark, positioning Hanley for his fourth three-pointer of the game to pull the Tigers back to just a one-point deficit one minute later.

For nearly the entirity of the final nine minutes, the margin swung back and forth with neither squad finding a two-score until Sechi collected his 25th and 26th points from the free throw line with two-and-a-half left on the clock for a short-lived five-point advantage. The Mountaineers erased the gap in the final minute, forcing overtime on a converted and-one opportunity for the 79-79 draw.

Schreiner broke open the scoring in the extra period before the Tigers ran away with the SCAC-opener via 16-3 run in the final 4:09 on the clock. Sechi collected seven of Trinity's 16 points in overtime, scoring in all three phases with another pair from the stripe, his fifth three-pointer and his fourth bucket inside. He also notched his first collegiate double-double along with his first 30-point outing as he grabbed his 10th rebound in the extra frame.

Coach Speak

"Unbelievable battle today," Head Coach Jimmy Smith said. "Schreiner wore us out on the boards in the first half; we did a much better job of it in the second half and defended very well down the stretch. I'm very proud of our guys for figuring out a way to win a tough conference road game."

"We are still coming together as a team," Coach Smith continued. "Today was a big step for us toward becoming the team we are capable of moving forward."

Up Next

Trinity Men's Basketball heads to Austin College for the next edition of SCAC play on December 17, part of the lengthy conference weekend paired with Centenary College on Sunday, December 19 in Shreveport, Louisiana.