Men's Basketball

March 1, 2008

Trinity's Run at the SCAC Title Ended by Second-Ranked Centre

Conway, Arkansas - The Tiger men's basketball team lost 57-70 to second-ranked Centre College in the SCAC Semifinals on Saturday afternoon, ending its hopes of a conference championship.

Trinity (18-9) trailed 29-36 at the half, with Centre shooting 54.5% from the field.  The Tigers led 23-17 with 9:32 to play in the period, but Centre's offense caught fire, finishing with a 19-6 run.

The Tigers hit the first two baskets of the second half to get to within three points, but Centre scored four straight to pull back ahead.  Centre eventually pushed the lead to double digits, leading 60-46 with 6:13 remaining, but Trinity mounted one more comeback.

After six unanswered points cut the lead to eight with 3:10 left, the Tigers were not out of it yet.  Trinity completed a three-point play with 75 seconds to go, making it a six-point lead, but the Tigers had back-to-back turnovers and less than a minute left.  Centre made 4-6 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Overall, Trinity shot 43.1% from the field, but allowed Centre to hit 48.9% of its shots.  The Tigers went the entire game without making a three-pointer, finishing 0-8 from beyond the arc.  The last time Trinity did not make at least one three-point field goal was February 23, 1990, against Millsaps - a span of 499 games.

B.J. Moon led Trinity with 14 points in the game, hitting 7-14 shots and handing out a team-best three assists.  Charles Houston just missed a double-double, collecting 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Jonathan Lewis added nine points for the Tigers, while Luke Caldarera came off the bench with eight points and six boards. 

T.C. Thomason led Centre with 13 points, while Ryan Crowdis scored 12 points on 4-5 shooting off the bench.  Danny Noll chipped in with 11 points as well.

Trinity will miss out on the finals of the SCAC Tournament for just the second time since the tournament began in 2003.  Two years ago, the Tigers were upset in the first round.