Men's Basketball

November 18, 2007

Trinity Wins Midway Classic Championship Over Chicago

Chicago, Illinois - Trinity's men's basketball team won the Midway Classic Championship by beating hosts University of Chicago 63-58 on Sunday evening.

Trinity (2-0) trailed 28-29 at the half as both teams came out shooting 44% or better.  The Tigers were not only able to keep up that pace, but improve it, hitting 59.1% from the field in the second half - including 6-7 three-pointers.  Chicago shot less than 30% in that second half.

Trinity opened up a five-point lead early in the game, but that was easily erased by the Maroons.  Chicago then started to pull away late in the period, leading by five with 2:01 to go in the first.  The Tigers scored the final four points of the half, though, and even took a brief lead early in the second period. 

The game went back and forth from there, with neither team able to put together any significant lead until the final minutes when Trinity went on a 13-5 run to make it a 59-52 lead with 2:03 to play.  After Chicago hit a basket to make it 59-54, the Maroons then forced a turnover to get the ball back with 1:13 left.  Chicago hit two free throws that cut the lead to two, but Trinity hit a layup and two clutch foul shots inside of 30 seconds to seal the win.

B.J. Moon led all scorers with 17 points in the game, hitting 6-11 from the field - including 4-4 three-point tries.  Moon also finished with three assists to lead Trinity, earning Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.  He also scored a team-high 19 points in yesterday's win over Ohio Wesleyan.

Charles Houston chipped in with nine points and four rebounds to go with a team-best three steals in 30 minutes of work.  He joined Moon on the All-Tournament Team.

Luke Caldarera led the team with seven rebounds, also knocking down 5-7 from the field for 13 points off the bench.  He grabbed two rebounds and four points in the final 32 seconds of the game to help the Tigers seal the win.  After Houston missed a shot with Trinity leading by three, Caldarera grabbed the offensive rebound and made a layup to put the team up five.  He then rebounded Chicago's miss on the next possession, was fouled, and calmly hit a pair of foul shots.

Patrick Robinson connected on 6-10 field goals for 14 points, which included a pair of three-pointers.  Bart Taylor chipped in with six points off the bench, while Nick Polidoroff had four points and six rebounds in 17 minutes.

Trinity will play its home opener against Texas Lutheran University on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.  The team will then host Hardin-Simmons University on November 26.