Men's Basketball

January 16, 2009

Trinity Defeats Birmingham-Southern to Open SCAC Weekend

Birmingham, Alabama - Trinity's men's basketball team opened up a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend with a 65-56 win over Birmingham-Southern College on Friday night.

Trinity (13-1) led 26-23 at the half, despite hitting just 32.3% (10-31) from the field and 27.3% (3-11) from three-point range.  The Tigers, ranked 10th in the latest D3hoops.com national poll, were able to secure the team's 12th consecutive win by hitting 9-18 (50%) in the second half - including a whopping 19-26 from the free throw line.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first half, and it wasn't until the midway point of the second that Trinity was able to build a lead any bigger.  The Tigers, holding a 45-44 lead, rattled off six straight points to go up by seven, and BSC got no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Trinity hit 6-6 from the free throw line in the final minute, clinching the victory and avenging last year's loss at home to Birmingham-Southern.  After BSC made it 57-53 with just under two minutes left, Luke Caldarera nailed a jump shot to push it back to six before the team iced the game from the line.  Patrick Robinson hit the final four, following a pair from Jonathan Lewis.

Robinson finished with a game-high 21 points, hitting 5-10 from the field - including 4-6 from three-point range - and 7-7 free throws.  Lewis and Caldarera scored 10 points each, while Nick Polidoroff added 11 points on 3-5 shooting.  Charles Houston finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, tying with Caldarera for the team's lead in rebounding. 

Aaron Parr led BSC with 14 points, while Nathan West came off the bench to score 13 points for the home team.  Michael Rebarchak added eight points and seven boards.

Trinity will finish off the weekend with a game tomorrow night at Rhodes College.  The Tigers will be shooting for the team's longest winning streak in the SCAC era, having tied the 12-game streak by the team during the 2004-05 season.