Men's Basketball

February 14, 2009

Tigers Need Overtime to Beat Hendrix Saturday

Conway, Arkansas - Trinity's men's basketball team needed five extra minutes to earn a weekend split in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play, defeating Hendrix College 71-67 on Saturday night.

Trinity (20-3, 11-2) improved to 2-1 in overtime games this season.  The Tigers won despite shooting under 37% in both the first and second halves and the overtime period. 

The Tigers trailed 38-27 at the half after Hendrix opened the game by hitting 14-26 (53.8%) from the field and 4-7 (57.1%) of its three-point shots.  The home team connected on just 7-31 after halftime, though, shooting no better than 25% in a period. 

Midway through the first period, Hendrix had taken an 11-point lead that became a 24-12 advantage just a couple of minutes later.  The Tigers cut the lead in half with six consecutive points, but could get no closer than six points before the break.

Trinity got to within three points a couple of times in the second half, but it wasn't until the 5:32 mark that the visitors were able to tie the game at 53-53.  The Tigers actually led with just over a minute left, but a pair of Hendrix free throws tied it up 59-59.  Trinity missed two potential winning shots, while Hendrix also had a shot at a game-winner with 20 seconds left.

In overtime, Trinity came up huge from the foul line, hitting 10-10 from the stripe to pull out the win.  Hendrix tied the game for the 10th time with 55 seconds left, but B.J. Moon's free throws made it 69-67 just 12 seconds later.  After a missed shot and an offensive rebound Hendrix went for the win with 18 seconds left, but a potential winning three missed and Moon grabbed the rebound.  Dwight Lutz then finished off the game with two more free throws with 10 seconds to play.

Lutz finished with 15 points off the bench for Trinity, hitting a career-best 8-8 from the foul line.  Luke Caldarera led the team with 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Charles Houston added 13 points and tied his career-high with 15 boards.  He also had a pair of steals to tie him for the career record in steals at Trinity. 

Michael Bertrand led Hendrix with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Cal Rose scored 12 points and hit 3-8 three-point shots. 

Trinity will return home next weekend to take on Colorado College and Austin College in the final regular season games of the year.  The Tigers have already clinched the West Division's top seed in the SCAC Tournament.