SAN ANTONIO – The No. 24 Trinity men's basketball team (7-2) bounced back today against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) (4-4), taking an 82-77 win at home. The Tigers survived a dangerous last-minute run from the Crusaders to get back in the win column after Saturday's loss at the University of St. Thomas.
The two teams were evenly matched in every major statistical category. However, the Tigers had a significant shooting edge in the first half, making 46% of their field goals to the Crusaders' 35%. Overall, Trinity shot 44% to UMHB's 40%, and both teams shot 35% from deep. Both the rebounding and turnover battles belonged to the Tigers by a margin of one.
While both teams were relatively even on the stat sheets, the Crusaders had the misfortune of playing against
Will Bronson (Dallas, Texas / Jesuit). En route to recording his fourth double-double of the season, Bronson grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, 5 of them on the offensive glass, and scored 10 points on 40% (2-5) shooting. For the first time this season,
Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) led the Tigers in scoring, posting a career-high of 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals on an efficient 62% (8-13) shooting.
Jackson Lawson (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals on 50% (4-8) shooting from the field and 75% (3-5) shooting from deep.
Dean Balo (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) had 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
The Rundown
With the score tied at two apiece, Bronson got the Tigers going with a feisty offensive rebound and bucket off his own miss. The Crusaders struggled shooting the ball to start the game, and Trinity built up a slight lead with 15:38 left to play, taking an 11-6 advantage off a Lawson pull-up three with a hand in his face. That sparked a quick Tiger run, scoring seven total unanswered points to take a 15-6 lead two minutes later. Back-and-forth scoring kept the margin about the same, although the Tigers would take their first double-digit lead after a
Javon Toliver (Schertz, Texas / Steele) finish through contact put his team up 21-11 with 9:00 to go. A minute later, a quick 9-2 run from the Crusaders cut the Trinity lead to just one, 28-27. That's the smallest it would ever get, however, as the Tigers closed out the final five minutes of the half on a 14-7 run to take a 42-34 lead heading into the break.
The game started to break open early in the second half as Trinity's three-pointers began to find the bottom of the net. With 17:25 remaining, and the lead down to six, the Tigers cashed in on three straight shots from deep amidst a 13-2 run that threatened to put the game out of reach. With 14:07 left to play, some smooth footwork on the block from Lawson put Trinity up 59-42. Over the next nine minutes, that lead stayed seemingly untouchable, even once being extended to 19, 69-50, with 7:22 remaining. With five minutes to play, however, turnovers and empty shots began to accumulate into one empty possession after another for the Tigers, and the Crusaders clawed their way back into the game with force. Over the next four minutes, UMHB went on a dominating 18-2 run to find themselves right back in it, down 75-77 with 53 seconds left. Two technical calls in the last minute killed all that momentum, however, and the Tigers pulled away to take the win, 82-77.
Looking Ahead
The Tigers will host the Leslie Robinson Classic on their home court from Dec. 20-21, first taking on Saint John's University (MN) (3-4) and then matching up with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (6-1), currently receiving votes.
