SAN ANTONIO - Trinity University Men's Basketball lost its first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest in its last eight Wednesday night, 69-67, to Texas Lutheran inside Calgaard Gym after once again battling back against the Bulldogs to set a stage for theatrics.

The Tigers (18-4, 10-3 SCAC) dropped just its second contest of the 2022 calendar year, and second within the Bell Center for the season despite rallying from a nine-point deficit midway through the second half.

An 18-point, eight-rebound performance from junior forward Enzo Sechi (Houston, Texas / Memorial) led the contest for both squads in both categories with 12 points collected in the latter 20 minutes.

Senior guard Jordan Lippman (Austin, Texas / Round Rock) aided the rally with 10 points on four-of-five shooting as he powered through heavy traffic to earn his buckets.

Trinity Men's Basketball hosts Southwestern University on Saturday for Senior Day festivities, recognizing the careers of Lippman, Mick Marquez, David Nickell, Mason Roberts, and Jack Williams.

The Rundown

The Tigers spotted Texas Lutheran its largest margin of the contest, 17-7 Bulldogs, just five minutes into the contest as Trinity endured an uncharacteristic slow start.

Lippman's second bucket of the evening, a successful three-point play, initiated an 8-1 rally that overcame the slow start. The second of a clean pair from the charity stripe by first-year Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) pulled the deficit to within one just under six minutes to play in the first.

Scoring slowed as the clock rolled past the under-four media break as just 14 points were logged between the SCAC foes, half of which were noted from the free throw line, and the halftime tally coasted to 40-37 in favor of the Bulldogs.

Sechi brought the Tiger faithful back to their seats after intermission with a contested corner three-pointer less than two minutes into the second stanza. The electrifying bucket gave Trinity its first lead since senior guard Jack Williams' (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) knocked in the game-opening points.

A second lull for the Tigers came after the junior forward's basket as TLU found a 12-1 stretch to sceak back to its largest spread of the second half, 52-43, with 14 minutes to play.

Trinity hovered within two possessions for most of the next nine minutes until senior guard AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) took heavy contact beyond the arc to convert a trio from the line, which set up Lippman for his final bucket to take the lead back at 64-63 before the four-minute mark. Sechi powered in a putback on the Tigers' next trip down the floor for a shortlived three-point advantage.

Similar to the battle in Seguin on January 29, both squads traded clutch buckets in the closing moments, but the Tigers were not able to power through the TLU bodies underneath the rim to force the extra period.

Up Next

Trinity Men's Basketball has just three games remaining on the docket for the 2021-22 regular season, two of which will be played in the Bell Center.

The Tigers will host Senior Day festivities on Saturday with the Pirates in town, tip scheduled for 4 p.m. Trinity's final home matchup features Schreiner University on Tuesday, February 15 before it hits I-35 for rematch with University of Dallas on Sunday, February 20.

The 2022 SCAC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships will be hosted by Austin College in Sherman, Texas February 25-27.