Men's Basketball

February 9, 2008

Trinity Holds Off Dallas for the Win on Saturday

San Antonio - Trinity's men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 80-70 win over the University of Dallas in its final non-conference game of the season on Saturday night.

Trinity (15-6) trailed 38-39 at the half, but a strong second half effort on both ends of the floor pushed the team to victory.  The Tigers shot 46.9% from the floor for the game, holding Dallas to 41.1% shooting - including 38.7% in the decisive second half. 

The Tigers opened the game with five straight points, but a 9-0 Dallas run put the visitors on top with just four minutes gone in the first half.  Trinity's 5-0 run later in the half broke an 18-18 tie, and Trinity did not trail again until the final second of the half.  Dallas was awarded a pair of free throws just before the halftime buzzer, hitting both to take the lead at the break.

After trading buckets early in the second period, Trinity took the lead for good with another 5-0 spurt that made it a 45-41 game.  The Tigers then put together an 11-3 run that put them up by 11 points.  With just over two minutes to play, Trinity led 71-58, but Dallas scored five unanswered points in the next 34 seconds to cut it to an eight-point game. 

Barrett Koch hit 5-6 free throws in the final minute, though, helping Trinity seal the victory.  Koch finished with 13 points and eight rebounds - including two crucial rebounds in the final minute to keep Dallas from getting extra chances offensively.  The 13 points is a new career high for Koch, while the eight rebounds ties his highest total.

Luke Caldarera led Trinity with 20 points, hitting 7-12 from the field and 6-7 free throws in his 27 minutes off the bench.  He scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half and also scored six key points down the stretch for the Tigers.

B.J. Moon finished with 16 points in the game, hitting 9-10 from the foul line, and handing out two assists.  Dwight Lutz and Nick Polidoroff chipped in with eight points each, and Polidoroff added six rebounds.

Joe Packard led Dallas with 19 points, while Jim Norton added 15 points on 5-8 shooting.  Jeff Pritchard scored 14 points and grabbed five steals, while Nick Netsch added 13 points on 4-8 shooting.

Trinity will continue SCAC play next weekend, hosting Hendrix and Millsaps on Friday and Sunday.  Earlier in the year, Trinity defeated Hendrix, but lost to Millsaps.

BJ Moon (above) had 16 points while Luke Caldarera (below) led the Tigers with 20.