SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity University men's basketball returned home for the first time in nearly three weeks and celebrated with a 69-63 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win over the University of the Ozarks (AR) on Friday night in Calgaard Gym.
The Tigers improved to 15-3 overall with their ninth consecutive victory and remain atop the SCAC Gold Division standings with an 8-1 conference record. The Eagles fell to 13-5 overall and 5-4 in the SCAC Blue Division after dropping the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Trinity jumped out to a big lead early, but Ozarks rallied and made it a close game all the way to the end.
Ozarks was held to just 31.1% shooting overall and went 5-for-28 (17.9%) from three-point range, while also hitting 20-of-29 (69%) at the foul line. Trinity's defense also recorded 10 steals and forced 14 total turnovers, scoring 20 points off turnovers in the game. The Tiger reserves also outscored their counterparts 30-17. Trinity held a slim edge overall in shooting for the game (34.4%) but hit nine total three-pointers – going 5-for-12 (41.7%) in the second half.
Dean Balo (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) led the Tigers with 15 points, going 6-for-7 at the line and hitting three three-pointers in nine attempts.
Jacob Millhouse (Plano, Texas / Independence) came off the bench and hit 4-for-6 from the field on his way to 11 points, as well as adding six rebounds and a career-high nine assists.
Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds, while
Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) led the Tigers with nine boards to go with five points scored and a pair of blocks.
The Rundown
It was all defense for the first four minutes of the game as neither team scored until
Robert Conrad (Cedar Creek, Texas / Cedar Creek) buried a three-point shot just ahead of the under-16 timeout. Conrad scored all six of his points in back-to-back possessions and put the Tigers in front 6-2 at the time. His second bucket came with a free throw and jump-started Trinity to a 12-0 run that made it a 15-2 game that prompted a timeout for Ozarks. After Conrad's six straight points,
Grant Jacobs (New Braunfels, Texas / New Braunfels) followed a three-point bucket with two free throws to keep the run going. The Eagles broke up the run with three free throws but went more than four minutes without making a basket. That led to Trinity taking a 20-5 lead when Harvey splashed a three-pointer with less than 12 minutes left in the period.
Ozarks ended their drought with a three-pointer to answer and went on to put up seven straight points to cut the lead down to just eight. The run continued after a Tiger free throw and ended up nearly erasing the lead with 12 of 13 points during the stretch to make it a 21-17 game with seven minutes left. When
Ty Williams (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) scored a layup on Trinity's next possession, he stopped a field goal drought of nearly five minutes. A little over a minute later, he stepped into a three-pointer that took the lead back to nine at 26-17 with five-plus minutes still to go in the half. Ozarks battled back again, though, and hit a three-pointer to cut it to a one-point game just two minutes later. The Tigers never gave up the lead over those final two minutes and took a 34-32 advantage into halftime.
Trinity took more than three minutes to score at the start of the second half and Ozarks was able to grab the lead that had eluded them in the first period. The Eagles nine straight points to start the period and led 41-34 before Barry was able to score an and-one three-point play to cut the lead back to four. Down six just over a minute later, Millhouse made a layup just after a media timeout, then got a steal from
Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) on the inbound pass. Fenn quickly found Millhouse for another layup and the lead was down to just two at 43-41. As the game neared the midway point of the second half,
Carter Ruck (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) hit a clutch three-pointer to pull the Tigers within one at 47-46, then Harvey followed with his own long-range shot to put Trinity back in front 49-47.
The Tigers never trailed again after that, holding the lead for the final eight-plus minutes. Balo followed Harvey's three with a pair of free throws, then Williams got a fastbreak dunk to answer an Ozarks basket to keep it a four-point lead for Trinity. Less than a minute later, Balo nailed a three of his own to push it to a 56-49 margin with less than seven minutes to go. He then added another long-distance bucket just ahead of the five-minute mark to make it a 60-51 game. Balo scored eight of Trinity's 11 points over that key three-minute stretch that put the Tigers in charge for good. Millhouse hit two free throws with less than a minute left to make it a six-point game, though Ozarks hit a three-pointer to bring the lead down to just four (67-63). The Eagles missed three free throws in the final minute and Balo converted his final two from the stripe with less than 30 seconds left to finish off the victory for the Tigers.
Up Next
The Tigers return to the court tomorrow night for more SCAC action, taking on Centenary College (LA) at 6:00 p.m.
