SAN ANTONIO – The Tiger men's basketball team opened up a five-game home stand with a 92-73 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Centenary (LA) College on Saturday afternoon.

Trinity improved to 17-3 overall and 9-2 in the SCAC with its sixth consecutive victory. The win also gives the Tigers a regular season series split with the Gents, who defeated Trinity in Shreveport earlier this season.

Enzo Sechi (Houston, Texas / Taylor) led four Trinity players in double figures with 21 points on 6-of-9 from the field and 7-for-9 at the foul line. He had 13 of his 21 points in the second half. AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) and Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) both contributed double-doubles to the winning cause. Clark finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists, hitting 6-for-7 from the floor and nailing both of his three-point attempts. Brown scored 12 points to go with 10 boards for his second double-double of the season.

The SCAC weekend continues with a game against Austin College tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., followed by a rescheduled matchup against Texas Lutheran on Wednesday night. Tuesday's game against Schreiner was also rescheduled to the following week (February 15).

The Rundown

Despite the Tigers getting the first points of the game, Centenary controlled the action early. Shortly after the first media timeout, Trinity needed just over a minute to string together nine unanswered points for a 16-9 lead. Sechi made back-to-back shots for the first five points of the run.

Centenary was able to draw within two points as the opening period approached the midway point, but Trinity scored six straight to push the lead back to eight with 8:29 remaining. The Gents put together a run of their own with eight consecutive points to tie the game 26-26 just over two minutes later. The Tigers never lost the lead, though, as Ashton Owens (Trinity, Ala. / West Morgan) got an 8-0 run for the home team started with a three-pointer. Brown scored the final five points of the run.

The lead was still eight late in the first half when the two teams finished with a flurry of scoring. The final 1:09 of the game featured 14 combined points, beginning with a Centenary three-pointer. Clark and Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) made back-to-back three-point baskets in the final 21 seconds to push the lead all the way to 12, though Centenary got the last shot to make it a 45-35 Trinity lead at the break.

Trinity picked up the first two baskets of the second half to make it a 14-point game and the Tigers looked to be in complete control of the game. The lead was still 12 when Trinity took its largest lead of the game to that point, using a 7-1 run to make it 62-44 with 12:49 to play.

Centenary began an 11-0 with just under 12 minutes to play and that run eventually led to a tie game. Trinity broke up its scoreless stretch of just over three minutes to stop the run temporarily, but the Gents scored 10 of the next 12 to tie things up 68-all with 5:42 to play. The Tigers made 1-of-2 at the line on the next possession to edge back in front, but Centenary took its first lead of the half with a basket just after that.

Trinity's response pretty much put the game away, as the home team scored 13 of the next 14 points over the next two-plus minutes and led 82-71 with 2:29 left in the game. The lead was never less than 10 after that and the Tigers finished strong with nine straight points over the final 1:46 to close the game.  Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) accounted for five of those points, including a nail-in-the-coffin three-pointer with 26 left.

Numbers to Note

Trinity shot a blistering 57.1% (32-of-56) from the field in the game, as well as forcing 18 turnovers and out-rebounding Centenary 44-29. The Tigers also dominated in the paint with a 42-14 edge down low.

Harvey rounded out Trinity's double-figure scorers, finishing with 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting that included a trio of three-point buckets.

Coach Speak

"This was truly a game of runs," Head Coach Jimmy Smith began. "It was great to see our guys take that punch from Centenary in the second half and then make a big run of our own. We really shared the ball well and I thought we had a great effort on the boards. The 'stache streak continues!" 

Up Next

Trinity continues its SCAC weekend at home by facing off against Austin College tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.