Mount Berry, Georgia - Trinity Men's Hoops rolls past Centre in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) tournament semifinals.

The Rundown

Trinity set the tone early and quickly created separation. After the teams traded baskets in the opening minutes, Jackson Lawson (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) sparked a decisive surge at 17:49, finishing a layup to start a 15–0 Trinity run. Zach Fenn (Covington, Louisiana) added a layup at 17:14, Dean Balo (Dallas, Texas / JJ Pearce) knocked down two free throws at 15:40 and followed with a layup at 15:14, and Benjamin Wagner (San Antonio, Texas / Cornerstone Christian) buried a jumper at 13:11. A few minutes later, Gabe Parr (Austin, Texas / Westwood) converted a layup at 11:37, and Joshua Chesney (Corpus Christi, Texas / London) capped the burst with a three-pointer at 11:00 to make it Trinity 21, Centre 4. Centre responded with its own stretch of scoring to cut into the margin, but Trinity answered again late in the half—Trent Medearis (Buda, Texas / Hays) hit two free throws at 10:09, Carter Ruck (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) drilled a three at 10:04, and Parr finished a tip-in at 9:22 to complete a 7–0 run and push the lead to Trinity 28, Centre 7. Trinity carried control into the break and led 45–27 at halftime.

Centre opened the half with a scoring push to trim the deficit, but Trinity steadied itself and rebuilt the cushion with another extended run midway through the period. At 10:22, Chesney sank two free throws to jump-start a 10–0 Trinity run, and Lawson (layup at 9:50), Will Bronson (Dallas, Texas / Jesuit)  (layup at 8:55), Ben Estis (Southlake,Texas / Carroll) (layup at 7:48), and Balo (jumper at 6:58) kept the momentum rolling to stretch the lead to Trinity 63, Centre 48. Later on, Trinity delivered another key burst—Lawson scored at 4:48, Bronson went 2-for-2 at the line at 4:01, and Lawson added one more layup at 3:48 to complete a 6–0 run and make it Trinity 73, Centre 55.

Trinity closed strong in the final minutes, finishing the night with a final 10–0 run. Fenn hit two free throws at 2:55, Wagner threw down a dunk at 1:47, and Elias Dement (Dallas, Texas / Lake Highlands) followed with a tip-in at 1:08. Medearis added two more free throws at 0:51 and 0:50, and Zach Austin (Clarkston, Michigan / Clarkston) capped it with a layup at 0:17 to seal the final margin at Trinity 83, Centre 57.

Up Next

The Tigers will play in the SAA Championship tomorrow at 6:00 PM (ET) against Rhodes College.