SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University Men's Basketball fell in the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship to Schreiner University, 69-67, in Calgaard Gym Sunday afternoon for the program's third straight runner-up finish for the league title.
 
The Tigers (20-7) fell behind early as the Mountaineers' (15-13) Dylan Mackey made four straight three-pointers on Schreiner's first four possessions, answered by a lone deep ball from junior Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis). Despite recovering to end the half, and holding an eight-point lead with 14:54 to play, the Mountaineers were undeterred from their storybook SCAC title run.
 
Senior AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) led the way in scoring for Trinity, one shy of Mackey's game-high 17. Sophomore Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) checked in with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
From the bench, sophomore Pierce Mathews (Cypress, Texas / Cy Woods) led the Tiger bench with eight points, all during the first-half rally while senior Kaleb Jenkins (New Orleans, La. / Metairie Park) led all players with four steals.
 
Clark and Brown were named to the SCAC Championship All-Tournament team for their efforts on the weekend.
 
The Rundown
As was the case throughout the weekend for both the SCAC men's and women's tournaments, Sunday's finale was the barn-burning conclusion aided heavily by the matchup of league travel partners.
 
Mackey stole the show directly after tip, single-handedly putting the Mountaineers up 12-3 into the first media timeout, answered only by Brown's lone long-range strike for the contest. A step-back jumper from Schreiner's Alex Dehoyos marked a brief double-digit lead at 13:53, 14-4 Mountaineers.
 
The margin steadily hovered between six and eight points over the next eight minutes of action. During the back-and-forth action, five different Tigers found the bottom of the net with Barry the lone repeat scorer on back-to-back possessions. The first two buckets from Schreiner's Christian Rodriguez put the Mountaineers up by double-digits for the final times with 5:15 to go in the half.
 
Cue Mathews: the sophomore entered the contest for the first time at the 6:37 media break and fueled a 14-4 half-ending run with eight points in less than three minutes, collecting three times in the paint along with a successful visit to the free throw line. In the same span, Jenkins had provided the defensive push for the run with three of his four steals.
 
At the three-minute mark, a drive inside from Clark returned Trinity to a one-possession deficit for the first time since Mackey's second strike in the early going. Despite being held scoreless to this point, sophomore Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) sent the contest into halftime with just a one-point spread, 34-33 Schreiner, with the first of his two longballs.
 
Harvey opened the half with his other three-pointer for Trinity's first lead of the contest, 36-34, less than 90 seconds in. Barry then made the margin two possessions the next time down the floor and three possessions, after the under-16 stoppage.
 
While typically called upon as a defensive spark plug, first-year Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) reignited the anxious Tiger crowd as he knocked down a straightaway three-pointer on a drive-and-dish from Hanley, which led into the under-12 break, 47-40 Trinity.
 
As the Tigers continued to hold on, Clark moved into double-digits with 10:16 remaining to briefly keep the Mountaineers at bay. Soon after, Schreiner began its resurgence through Rodriguez and Beau Cervantes combined to be responsible for the next 18 Mountaineer points. With less than three minutes to go, Rodriguez had even briefly overtaken Mackey as the game's leading scorer to put Schreiner up 64-61.
 
After a pair of Clark free throws, Mackey returned for his fifth and final three-pointer of the afternoon with 1:56 to go and put the Mountaineers up four. The next time down, Barry was sent to the free throw line for a successful pair, 67-65.
 
Now with less than 90 seconds left, having trailed for the previous six minutes, senior Ben Hanley (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) was ready for the moment. Hanley intercepted the inbound pass out of Barry's free throws while falling out of bounds, tossed the ball behind his back to Clark for the finish for a sudden brand-new ballgame, 67-67.
 
Brown collected a steal of his own the next Schreiner possession but the Tigers were unable to convert from the top of the key after running down the shot clock. On the Mountaineers' final possession, Jenkins drew contact in the paint from a driving Dehoyos but the whistle that chimed in with 2.7 seconds to go went in favor of Schreiner as Dehoyos won it for the Mountaineers from the charity stripe.
 
Coach Speak
"Heartbroken for our team, and particularly our seniors," Head Coach Jimmy Smith said. "They have meant so much to our program, and to me personally. I have so much respect for all four of them. I will truly miss having them around every day but can't wait to follow all of their future successes."
 
"Hats off the Schreiner," Smith pivoted. "They played a phenomenal tournament. Best of luck to them and St. Thomas in the NCAA tournament."
 
Up Next
The selection show for the 2023 NCAA III Men's Basketball Championship airs on NCAA.com Monday at 1:00 p.m. ET.