SEGUIN, Texas – After needing last-second scores in its last two visits to Texas Lutheran University, Trinity Men's Basketball broke the mold and collected a 74-64 victory in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference competition Friday night.
 
While the exciting conclusions did not continue for this season's matchup, the Tigers (12-4, 5-2 SCAC) did see a repeat as sophomore Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) posted a dominant 16 rebounds underneath, the most by any Trinity player in nearly two decades, one-upping senior AJ Clark's (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) output in last year's road battle with the Bulldogs (9-7, 4-3 SCAC).
 
Barry's breakout performance spilled over into the points column as well, marking his first career double-double with 14 points, breaking his previous high-mark of nine in the first half alone. Fellow sophomore Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) led the scoring for Trinity with 16 points—a career high of his own—followed by 10-point results from Clark and senior Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / Metairie Park).
 
Trinity Men's Basketball will visit Southwestern University Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. tip in Georgetown, Texas to conclude its current four-game road stretch in league play. The Tigers return to San Antonio to host Centenary College (Jan. 20) and University of St. Thomas (Jan. 21).
 
The Rundown
 
Sophomore Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) immediately made his presence known inside as he was responsible for seven points, a rebound on each end and a block in a 12-3 Trinity run to open the contest before taking his only visit to the bench in the first half.
 
The Bulldogs drew back to a two-point game around the 12-minute mark, 12-10 TU, but a bucket from senior Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / Metairie Park) followed by Barry's fourth uninterrupted bucket inside—tying his career-high of nine points—led to a 16-12 margin at the second stoppage.
 
A finish inside from senior AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) on the other side of the timeout, followed by a successful pair from the line by sophomore Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave), pushed Trinity back to an eight-point spread, 20-12, with 9:30 remaining in the first period.
 
Barry broke into new territory for scoring in his career as he matched the margin with yet another make inside two possessions later. Harvey finally broke through from outside soon after, though the resulting 25-17 score set the stage for a Texas Lutheran rally.
 
With just over three minutes to intermission, the Bulldogs found themselves in the lead at the end of a 12-3 run of their own to bring the game full circle from the run the Tigers used from the tip. TLU's DJ Ardoin collected all of his seven first-half points during the return as he connected on all five of his free throw attempts down the stretch.
 
Both sides traded buckets within one-possession margins through the final three minutes ahead of the 36-34 halftime tally, including three made free throws from senior Ben Hanley (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) in his first action since his early exit from Trinity's December 22 matchup with Geneva College.
 
Sophomore Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) became the second Tiger in double digits as Trinity again got off to a fast start on the other side of intermission. A pair of empty possessions passed—which featured Barry's second block-and-board for his first career double-double—before Clark stepped in to regain a three-possession lead for the Tigers, 42-34, ahead of the second half's first media timeout.
 
Just after Clark collected his eighth point with over 12-and-a-half to go, his fourth foul was charged at the center line which put the Bulldogs in the bonus with plenty of time remaining and sent the senior leader back to the bench with the Tigers up, 46-39.
 
To reach its first double-digit lead of the contest, Trinity utilized strong defense as Jenkins collected a pass broken up by junior Grayson Herr (Farmington, Conn. / Farmington) and found Millhouse on the right wing only to deke the entire transitioning Bulldog defense with a no-look touch pass to a trailing Ty Williams (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) for an inside finish, 55-44, to trigger a called timeout from Texas Lutheran.
 
Trinity hovered around its eventual double-digit margin for the duration. Clark posted the third double-digit scoring performance with a clean pair at the charity stripe with three minutes to play. Jenkins also notched his 10^th point from the free throw line with 21 seconds on the game clock.
 
Coach Speak
 
"Big time road win tonight," Head Coach Jimmy Smith began. "TLU is a really good and well-coached team. We, again, had great contributions across the board. I thought our defensive activity was phenomenal."
 
Up Next
 
Trinity Men's Basketball returns to the Bell Center January 20 for return visit of Centenary for more SCAC action, followed by conference-leader St. Thomas the following evening.
 
The Tigers will host six of their final eight regular season contests ahead of their hosting duties for the 2023 SCAC Men's Basketball Championship tournament February 24-26.