SAN ANTONIO – Trinity's men's basketball team evened its league record with a 64-58 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Colorado College on Monday evening.

The Tigers improved to 9-4 overall and 2-2 in conference with the team's fourth straight victory, while Colorado College suffered its first SCAC loss and fell to 5-7, 3-1. Trinity held off several second-half rallies by Colorado College, but never gave up the lead. Colorado College drew within one midway through the period, and also trailed by just three in the final minute, but Abdullah Roberts (Houston, Texas / HCYA) knocked down a huge three-pointer with 20 seconds left to seal the win.

AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) led Trinity with 10 points, six assists, and three blocks. He was the lone Trinity player to reach double figures, hitting 6-for-8 at the free throw line. Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) also had six boards to go with nine points and a pair of blocks, knocking down 7-of-10 at the foul line. Abdullah Roberts (Houston, Texas / HCYA) finished with a team-leading nine rebounds, adding seven points in his 19 minutes of action.

Trinity will continue its conference schedule this weekend on the road, facing the University of Dallas and Austin College on Friday and Saturday. The Tigers won't return home until January 20-21 against Centenary College and the University of St. Thomas.

The Rundown
The game started slowly as both teams struggled to score early and Trinity led just 7-2 five minutes into the contest. Colorado College pulled within one shortly after but the lead was still five points (15-10) with 7:21 left in the half. Less than a minute later, the TU Tigers had doubled the margin with a 20-10 lead. Colorado College scored what would be its final field goal of the first period with 5:02 remaining and Trinity closed the half with a 10-3 run to take a 33-18 advantage into the break. The run began with eight straight Trinity points to build the biggest lead of the game to that point (16 points).

The second half began with Trinity taking what would be its biggest lead of the game at 38-21 just over a minute into the period. Colorado College then made a 10-0 run to cut that lead to seven at the first media timeout. The lead was still seven for several minutes as both teams struggled to score, but Colorado College rallied again with three straight field goals to make it a one-point game (42-41) at the halfway point of the period.

Trinity never lost the lead, though, as Roberts nailed a clutch three-pointer to break up what was an extended 20-4 run by Colorado College. Clark assisted on the three by Roberts, then assisted on the next basket as well to push the lead back to six. Clark then hit a pair of foul shots to make it a 49-41 game with 8:45 remaining. The TU Tigers led 57-50 with under five minutes left as the teams traded scores for the next few minutes, then Colorado College made another push with back-to-back buckets to cut it to a one-possession game with 3:45 left.

Trinity missed the front end of a one-and-one at the line on the next possession, but Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) picked up a steal on the ensuing possession and Barry drew a foul and hit both free throws with 2:50 to go, pushing the lead back to 59-54. Millhouse got another steal – this time on the inbounds play – and Trinity got another bucket to turn the game around in just six seconds with a 61-54 advantage.

Colorado College scored twice at the line to cut it a five-point game a few seconds later, then Trinity  had back-to-back turnovers to keep the game within reach. Colorado College scored again with 47.4 seconds left to pull within one score again, but Roberts nailed another clutch shot from beyond the arc with 20.6 seconds left to seal the Tiger win 64-58. It was the only field goal attempt for Trinity over the final 2:44 of the game.

Coach Speak
"This was like a Big 10 game tonight," said Head Coach Jimmy Smith. "Both teams competed hard and played great defense. Super proud of our guys for finding a way to win against a really good Colorado team that was 3-0 in conference coming in."

Up Next
The Tigers will continue SCAC play on the road this weekend, facing off against the University of Dallas on Friday night, followed by a Saturday evening game at Austin College.