SAN ANTONIO – The ninth-ranked Trinity University men's basketball team began the 2024 calendar year with a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference thriller, earning an 82-81 victory over Schreiner University on Tuesday evening in Calgaard Gym.

The Tigers remained unbeaten this season at 14-0 overall and also moved to 5-0 in SCAC play on the year. Schreiner suffered its first conference loss of the year to fall to 4-1 in SCAC and 9-5 overall. Trinity swept the regular season series between the teams last year as well, though Schreiner earned a win in last year's SCAC Tournament Championship game.

Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) led the Tigers with a career-high 32 points, hitting 12-of-13 from the field and all seven of his shots from beyond the arc. He had 16 points in each half while also leading the team with three steals, and tying for the team lead with five rebounds.

Christian Green (San Antonio, Texas / Veterans Memorial) added 14 points to go with five boards and three assists, while Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) also had five rebounds. Dean Balo (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) came off the bench to round out Trinity's double-digit scorers, connecting on 4-of-7 from the field for an 11-point night. Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) hit three three-pointers to chip in with nine points, while Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) added seven points and a team-leading four assists.

Both teams shot better than 50% from three-point range tonight and both squads were better beyond the arc than in front of it.

The Rundown
Brown got started quickly by scoring nine of Trinity's first 11 points over a span of less than four minutes, but the Tigers soon found themselves down 16-11. Brown fueled a 7-0 Trinity run after that, hitting a pair of layups around a three-pointer from Balo to get back in the game. The teams traded leads for the next several minutes when Trinity broke a 26-26 tie with a 9-0 run. Harvey hit both of his first-half three-pointers during that stretch, with Brown also connecting from long-range to give Trinity its biggest lead of the period with less than four minutes to go. Millhouse and Green scored the final eight points of the first half for the Tigers and the home team led 43-35 at the break.

Schreiner opened the second period by scoring 18 of the first 20 points to take a 53-45 lead in less than five minutes. Brown got the Tigers going by following a three-point play with another three-pointer, then Fenn completed a three-point play of his own to bring Trinity within one at 55-54 just over two minutes later. The Mountaineers refused to give up the lead, though, and had the lead back to eight points with under 12 minutes to go.

Trinity rallied once again, this time with an 11-0 run to take a 69-66 lead. Balo started it off with a three-point play, then Brown scored the next five – including a game-tying three-pointer. Harvey gave the Tigers the lead with a triple of his own just ahead of the nine-minute mark. Trinity got the lead as high as six points, but Schreiner battled back to tie things up 79-79 with 2:31 to go.

Brown scored his final points with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to put Trinity back in front, then Schreiner answered with a bucket to bring it back to an 82-81 game with 1:44 to go. Defense ruled the final two minutes as neither team was able to score again, making Brown's three the eventual winner. The Mountaineers had two shots in the final seconds to try and win it, but the Tigers held on to take the victory.

Coach Speak
"Speechless," said Head Coach Jimmy Smith. "That was an absolute battle. I'm really proud of the guys for just gutting this one out and figuring out a way to win."

Up Next
Trinity will hit the road for more SCAC action this weekend, taking on Colorado College at 5:30 p.m. (MT) on Friday, January 5.