ABILENE, Texas – The Trinity University men's basketball team escaped with an 81-80 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference road win at McMurry University (TX) on Friday night, as Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) dropped in a last-second layup to win the game.

The Tigers were down 80-75 with under a minute to play after McMurry converted an and-one to seemingly seal the win. Trinity hurried up the floor and Christian Green (San Antonio, Texas / Veterans Memorial) scored on an up-and-under layup just 10 seconds later and the Tigers called a timeout with the game now 80-77. Trinity went for the steal in the backcourt but ended up fouling the War Hawks, but the front end of the 1-and-1 at the line was missed and the Tigers headed down the court with a chance to tie.

Trinity once again pushed the ball quickly and had a look at a tying three-pointer from the corner, but it bounced off and McMurry grabbed the rebound. The Tigers were forced to foul again with 24.1 seconds to play. McMurry missed the 1-and-1 once again, and Green quickly brought the ball up with Trinity still looking to tie things up. Dean Balo (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) was lined up for that corner three to tie things up, but he was fouled on his shot that ended up being just inside the three-point line for two free throws. After a timeout, he knocked down both to make it a one-point game. On the ensuing inbounds play, Green stole the ball just inside the free throw line and Trinity now had a chance to win it. McMurry stripped the ball away from Harvey, but the ball landed out of bounds to the Tigers. Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) found Harvey open under the basket after a screen from Green, and the Tiger captain laid it in for the win.

The Tigers extended their winning streak to seven games and improved to 13-3 this season, including a 6-1 mark in league play. The War Hawks fell to 3-11 overall and 1-4 in SCAC, and Trinity also sweeps the regular season series after also winning 76-40 in San Antonio two weeks ago. The Tigers are also 4-1 in the series with McMurry and are now 2-1 in Abilene.

Green led Trinity with a near double-double, collecting nine rebounds to go with 18 points. Balo came off the bench to score 12 points with Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) adding 11 points and four boards. Harvey and Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) both finished with 10 points and a team-best four steals.

Trinity shot just under 44% for the game and struggled from beyond the arc, hitting just 5-of-22 (22.7%). McMurry kept themselves in the game with its three-point shooting, hitting 12-for-22 (54.5%). The Tigers held a 20-12 edge in made free throws and collected 12 offensive rebounds to account for a 13-4 edge in second-chance points.

Trinity got out to a quick 6-0 lead, but McMurry stayed within reach over the first few minutes of the opening period. The lead was just three points when the Tigers scored nine unanswered that included a three-pointer from Balo and was finished off with a layup from Gabe Parr (Austin, Texas / Westwood). That put Trinity up 19-7 with 14 minutes left in the first half and the Tigers led by as many as 14 points in the period. McMurry used a 9-2 run to cut the last 14-point advantage in half at 29-22 with under nine to play. The Tigers had the lead back to double figures a few minutes later and a three-pointer from Harvey made it a 41-28 game with just two minutes left; however, McMurry scored the final nine points on three three-pointers of its own to cut the lead to 41-37 at the break.

The scoring run continued into the second half as the War Hawks scored twice in the opening minute to tie the game. Green broke up the streak of 13 unanswered points with back-to-back buckets to make it a 45-41 lead for the Tigers. McMurry was back in the lead shortly after and the teams battled back and forth for much of the second half. Trinity could never pull ahead more than five points and McMurry had the same issues until the final five minutes. The War Hawks scored consecutive buckets to make it a 75-67 game with four minutes remaining, which was the biggest lead of the night for the home team. Balo hit another three to finish a 7-0 Trinity run after that, putting the Tigers in position for the heroics in the final minute.

Up Next
The Tigers will head to Austin, Texas, on Sunday to take on Concordia University (TX) at 2:00 p.m. to close out the SCAC weekend of action.