SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University Men's Basketball begins the 2022-23 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule Friday in Shreveport, Louisiana at Centenary College, followed by a visit to University of St. Thomas in Houston on Sunday.
 
The Tigers (5-2) picked up a pair of hard-fought victories in last weekend's home-opening Leslie Robinson Thanksgiving Classic, knocking off McMurry University, 91-85, on Friday and Hardin-Simmons University, 70-67, on Sunday as a strong rebound from a 93-88 loss at Sul Ross State University the day before Thanksgiving in Alpine, Texas.
 
Senior AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) shouldered the load for Trinity last week averaging a double-double (17.7 points, 10 rebounds per game) including tying his career high of 25 points in Friday's victory over the Warhawks to go along with 13 rebounds and four assists.
 
Following the opening weekend of SCAC play, Trinity will return to San Antonio for four straight in Calgaard Gym, hosting the 2022 Leslie Robinson Christmas Classic and its next two league matchups.
 
NCAA III Rankings: Trinity Still in the Hunt
 
After opening the 2022-23 campaign ranked 18^th by D3hoops.com, the Tigers fell just outside the top-25 in the first regular-season poll this week following the midweek road loss to the Lobos. Trinity collected 12 points toward this week's rankings, ninth in line from the 25^th spot.
 
Preview: Centenary (Dec. 2), St. Thomas (Dec. 4)
 
Clark leads the Tigers in multiple categories through the first seven games of the 2022-23 campaign, with 14.1 points, eight rebounds and 3.6 assists per game and is one of four Trinity players to have reached double-digit steals already this season.
 
Three other Tigers roam in double-digits on the offensive end between junior Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis), senior Ben Hanley (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) and sophomore Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave).
 
Brown's 12.6 ppg is powered heavily by 13 of his 30 made field goals coming from beyond the arc at a 40.6 percent clip while Hanley leads all backcourt players with a 59 percent shooting rate from the field. Harvey leads all players averaging at least 10 minutes per contest from three-point range in shooting percentage at 46.9 percent, which leads the SCAC thus far.
 
Brown and Hanley have also provided support for Clark on the boards, each with 5.4 rebounds per contest while Brown is another Tiger in double-digits for steals this season.
 
Trinity notably leads the SCAC with 9.9 steals per game this season as Brown and Clark have chipped in 11 and 10 steals thus far, respectively. A pair of Louisiana-natives in first-year Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) and senior Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / Metairie Park) have powered the pick-pocket effort with 12 and 11 steals, respectively, with the rookie's team-high mark coming despite playing less than 10 minutes per game.
 
On the Gents: Centenary hosts the first league game for the Tigers Friday night holding a 4-2 record this season, but has won its last three contests. Since the start of the 2012-13 season the two teams have split 22 meetings though Trinity has claimed five of the previous seven matchups since the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
 
Friday's matchup will be a battle of philosophy as Centenary leads the SCAC allowing just 67.7 points per game while the Tigers have scored 83 or more points in five of seven games this season.
 
The Gents are led senior forward Seth Thomas with 14 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest, including a pair of 20-point games, one in an exhibition contest with Louisiana State University-Shreveport. Thomas also posted a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double in a road loss to East Texas Baptist University on November 12.
 
On the Celts: Last year's SCAC champion, St. Thomas, will host the Tigers Sunday afternoon after opening its SCAC campaign with Trinity's league travel partner, Schreiner University, Friday night. Ahead of that contest, the Celts are 5-1 so far this season and are also receiving votes in the D3hoops.com national poll.
 
Last season, Trinity and St. Thomas split regular-season matchups in back-to-back weekends in a combined scored of 115-114, with the home team claiming victory in each contest. With the conference's automatic qualification into the NCAA III tournament already in hand ahead of last season's SCAC title game, Trinity fell to the Celts in the conference final on the campus of Austin College.
 
The Celts are among the best in NCAA III this season in offensive efficiency, ranked 13^th in three-point percentage (41.2 percent) and 14^th from the field overall (49.9 percent). Senior guard Freddie Ricks is leading the way offensively with 15.5 points per game, shooting 51.8 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from beyond the arc.
 
On the Horizon: 2022 Leslie Robinson Christmas Classic, SCAC home dates
 
Trinity Men's Basketball returns to San Antonio following the road opening-weekend in SCAC play and will remain idle during the final weeks of the fall semester ahead of the 2022 Leslie Robinson Christmas Classic December 21-22.
 
The Classic opens four consecutive home games for the Tigers, playing host to Geneva College (PA) and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for the event followed by the first two home matchups in SCAC play between Schreiner University (Dec. 29) and Colorado College (Jan. 2).