SHREVEPORT, La. – Trinity University Men's Basketball rallied from a 15-point deficit early in the first half Friday night but fell short in its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference-opener at Centenary College, 69-65.
The Tigers (5-3, 0-1 SCAC) collected a season-highlight performance from junior guard
Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) between a game-high 22 points and a team-high 10 rebounds including five made three-pointers and a 63.6 percent shooting clip from the field.
Trinity spotted the Gents (5-2, 1-0 SCAC) a 17-2 run to open the contest Friday night, using multiple bulk runs to reach back into deficits within two possessions throughout the second half but never managed to find the lead.
Tiger Men's Basketball will visit University of St. Thomas Sunday afternoon to conclude the SCAC-opening road weekend.
The Rundown
The Tigers surrendered 14 straight points to Centenary in a three-minute window before the first media timeout of the contest after a
Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) bucket had answered a game-opening three from the Gents.
Over the following six minutes, Trinity battled back to a seven-point margin between five-point spurts from Brown and
Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian), the latter of whom made his presence known in the paint immediately after checking in from the bench with a trio of rebounds to go with his help on the offensive end.
The resurgence was short-lived as Centenary found its largest margin of the night, 33-17, with 6:32 left to play before the intermission. At that point, Brown had posted eight of his 11 first-half points, followed by Barry's five.
Down the stretch, Trinity clawed back once again with three crucial strikes from beyond the arc, first from Harvey with five-and-a-half to go, then Brown and
Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / Metairie Park) on back-to-back possessions to close the half at just a 10-point margin, 39-29.
The buckets to end the half began what ended up being a 14-2 run that survived the halftime stoppage, drawing the game back to just a two-possession deficit, 41-37 Gents. Another Jenkins three-pointer and a coast-to-coast solo effort from
Ben Hanley (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) followed repeat trips to the free line for the Tigers from
AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) and Harvey opened the second period, marking the first point of the game for Clark over 20 minutes in.
One more attempt to put the contest out of reach for Centenary came in retaliation to the midgame comeback effort with an 8-2 run that pushed back out to a 49-39 lead for the Gents before the second media break.
Barry's third bucket of the night kickstarted a 12-4 run for the Tigers that drew the contest back to a one-possession, 53-51 tally, fueled by four more points from Brown which tied his season-high of 17 points with nearly 10 minutes still to play.
The game finally settled into a back-and-forth script over final minutes with Trinity riding between deficits of four to eight points with Brown's fifth made three-pointer with just-under three to play leaving the tally 65-60 into a 30-second Tigers timeout and a strong finish from Hanley reaching another two-point deficit with 23 seconds to play but Trinity was not able to get over the hump.
Up Next
Trinity Men's Basketball stays on the road with a visit to St. Thomas in Houston Sunday, then returns to San Antonio to conclude the fall semester before hosting its next four contests, including the 2022 Leslie Robinson Christmas Classic December 21-22.
