SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University Men's Basketball dropped its first home contest in 2022-23 Saturday night in a 67-59 matchup with No. 14 University of St. Thomas in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action.
 
The Tigers (14-5, 7-3 SCAC) jumped out to a signature hot start, up 19-12 past the halfway point of the first half as play went uninterrupted for over eight minutes from the tip. Junior Abdullah Roberts (Houston, Texas / HCYA) and senior Ben Hanley (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) landed with 10 points apiece to lead Trinity in the defensive struggle.
 
Sophomore Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) manned the middle for a career-high four blocks to go with six rebounds. Barry's fourth block—registered with 3:22 left in the first half—matched the best output for a Tiger in over 10 years, last achieved by David Nickell '22 at Centenary College on February 2, 2020.
 
Trinity Men's Basketball will hit the road for its next two contests after a brief hiatus next weekend as it faces Schreiner University (Jan. 31) and Colorado College (Feb. 5) ahead of four straight SCAC regular-season home matchups, followed by its hosting duty for the 2023 SCAC Men's Basketball Championship tournament February 24-26.
 
The Rundown
 
Up-and-down play began immediately Saturday with strong passing-lane defense in three straight possessions until St. Thomas drew first blood. Trinity matched with its first field goal attempt nearly two-and-a-half minutes after the tip—a driving finish from senior AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson).
 
The Tigers rolled out to a two-possession margin, 10-4, as Clark logged Trinity's first fastbreak points to cash in on a steal by sophomore Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave). Harvey nailed back-to-back threes in the previous two successful trips down the floor to aid the hot start.
 
As play continued for over eight minutes before the contest's first stoppage, Barry had already provided muscle inside with three rejections before he checked out at the first media timeout under the 12-minute mark.
 
The first bucket of the night off the bench for Hanley marked Trinity's largest advantage, 19-12, with just over nine minutes to play in the half. Soon after, the well ran dry as three minutes later, St. Thomas had knotted things up on a quick 7-0 response opened by Andrew Nguyen's lone three-pointer of the game.
 
Clark gave a quick jab just-under four minutes to play in act one with his long-range make, 24-21 Trinity. The reigning SCAC Player of the Week for the previous three weeks, Calvin Williams, finished on a fast break less than a minute later for his second bucket of the rally, though this would be his final tally in the scoring column for the remainder of the contest.
 
The very next time down the floor for St. Thomas marked the first basket for Freddie Ricks—Saturday's leading scorer—as he struck from deep with less than three minutes to play in the half for what would be the final lead change of the night. Ricks added one more bucket with 30 seconds left to make the 30-24 halftime deficit for the Tigers.
 
Ricks opened the second half with a second three-pointer, marking three straight scores for the Celts by his hand. Trinity fell behind by 12 early on in the second before slowly working the margin down ahead of the first media break. A pair of finishes inside from Barry and a converted and-one from Hanley forced the first called stoppage, 40-34 UST, 11 seconds ahead of the first scheduled break.
 
A strong drive to the rack from senior Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / Metairie Park) put the guard on the scoreboard and opened an 8-0 run for Trinity to pull back to within a possession right as the clock rolled under the 10-minute mark. First-year Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) capped the run with his lone make of the night.
 
The second and third double-digit performances from the Celts were logged in a 14-1 run that sealed the contest. Zack Golaszewski opened the stretch with a deep strike on the possession immediately following Fenn's finish while Joshua Sanchez accumulated five points, including the bucket that logged St. Thomas's largest lead, 60-45, with four-and-a-half to play.
 
While four-straight makes from Roberts at the line and a pair inside from Jenkins and sophomore Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / independence) quickly brought Trinity back to within eight, the Tigers ran out of time with that margin for the 67-59 final.
 
Coach Speak
 
"All credit to St. Thomas," Head Coach Jimmy Smith began. "They had a better plan today and executed it well. I'm very proud of the guys for the effort they put forth tonight and throughout the previous nine-game win streak."
 
Up Next
 
Road dates at Schreiner and Colorado College lie ahead for Trinity Men's Basketball after a nine-day work stoppage.
 
The Tigers will host University of Dallas (Feb. 10) and Austin College (Feb. 11), then Texas Lutheran University (Feb. 17) and Southwestern University (Feb. 18) in consecutive weekends.
 
The 2022-23 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship will be held in San Antonio on Trinity's campus February 24-26 in the Bell Center. The top six teams in the final regular season standings enter the league's finale.