KERRVILLE, Texas – The eighth-ranked Trinity University men's basketball team rocketed past Schreiner University with a powerful second half to earn an 87-70 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference road win over Schreiner University on Tuesday night.

The Tigers improved to 21-1 overall this season and remain atop the league standings with a 12-1 conference mark. The Mountaineers dropped to 12-10 overall and 7-6 in the SCAC. The victory equals a regular season series sweep, as Trinity earned a narrow 82-81 win over Schreiner just over a month ago. Prior to tonight, each game between the two teams had been decided by three points or less.

Trailing by one point at the break, Trinity scored 49 points in the second half to pull away for the win. The Tigers turned 20 turnovers into 25 points, while the Mountaineers scored just 13 points off of 10 turnovers by the Tigers. Trinity was also plus-15 at the free throw line, connecting on 33-of-40 (82.5%) as a team.

Tanner Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Brandeis) led four Tiger players in double figures with a 17-point effort on Tuesday night. He hit a pair of free throws and went 7-for-8 at the line. Dean Balo (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) scored all 10 of his points at the line, going 10-for-12 from the stripe. He also led the team with three steals to go with seven rebounds off the bench.

Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) hit 4-for-7 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range on his way to 13 points, while Christian Green added 12 points and five boards. Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) chipped in with nine points on offense, while also pulling down a team-best eight rebounds to go with his game-high five assists.

The Rundown

The Tigers took a brief lead early in the game as Harvey nailed a three-pointer to start the scoring for his team, but it was Schreiner that was in charge of the game early on. The Mountaineers broke a 5-5 tie with a 10-1 run that gave them a 15-6 advantage less than four minutes into the game. Millhouse sparked a 7-0 Trinity run with his three-pointer to stop Schreiner's momentum, and the teams were locked up in a one-possession game with 13:34 remaining in the half.

Trinity used a streak of eight straight points shortly after to take a 21-17 lead with under 10 minutes left. Schreiner wrestled momentum back after that point, tying the game at 25-25 ahead of the seven-minute mark. The teams were still knotted up at 29-all two minutes later when Schreiner hit back-to-back shots to pull ahead by four. The home team had a 39-33 lead with 1:45 left before the break when Harvey hit a three on a fast break to cut the lead in half. Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) added a layup with less than 30 seconds left and Trinity went to the locker room down just one at 39-38.

Both teams traded baskets and the lead for the first few minutes of the final period, but Trinity came out of the under-16 media timeout with six straight points to take a 53-48 lead. That stretch was finished off by another Harvey three-pointer with 14:40 left in the game. Schreiner hit the next two shots to draw within one, but that would be the closest they got the rest of the way.
The Tigers began to pull away after that, scoring seven of the next eight points to take the margin out to seven points. Brown made it a double-digit lead (71-60) for the first time with a three-pointer with 6:26 to go in the game. Schreiner could not put together one final push and Trinity hit all eight of its free throws in the final 1:32 to seal the game. The Tigers scored the final eight points of the game to finish with a double-digit victory.

Coach Speak

"Big time second half," exclaimed Head Coach Jimmy Smith. "Really proud of our effort defensively and on the boards! We had some big contributions from our bench as our quality of depth continues to show! Excited for Senior Day on Sunday!"

Up Next

Trinity will be back in San Antonio on Sunday, February 11, to take on Colorado College in its final home game of the regular season. The Tigers will also celebrate Senior Day prior to the tip-off at Noon.