Men's Basketball

March 5, 2009

Trinity Edges Maryville in First Round Playoff Game

San Antonio - The Tiger men's basketball team held on for a 68-64 win over Maryville (TN) College in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs on Thursday night.

Trinity (24-3) advances to face the University of Texas-Dallas on Saturday night, which will be played at Trinity's Sams Gymnasium.

The Tigers held a slim 28-27 halftime lead as both teams shot under 40% in the first half.  Trinity scored 20 points off of 17 Maryville turnovers in the game, while Maryville had just five points off turnovers.

Trinity opened the game with a pair of three-pointers to take the early lead, leaving Maryville to play catch-up for the first few minutes.  The teams played very close in the first half, with neither team getting a lead larger than Trinity's initial six-point spurt.

After trading baskets early in the second half, the Tigers finally pulled away with 11 unanswered points to take a 44-32 lead with 14:27 left.  After a timeout, though, Maryville scored three straight times to cut the lead in half and get back in the game. 

The Tigers kept the lead right at 8-10 points for the next few minutes, but Maryville scored five straight to make it 55-50 with 6:06 to play - keeping the outcome in question.  Trinity was able to hold off Maryville down the stretch, though, pulling off its first playoff win since the 2004-05 season, and avenging a first round loss to Maryville in 2006.

Charles Houston led Trinity with 21 points and seven rebounds, hitting 7-12 from the field and 6-7 from the foul line.  B.J. Moon scored 15 points in the game, and while he hit just 5-13 overall from the field, he did nail 3-5 from three-point range.

Luke Caldarera scored six points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.  Jonathan Lewis finished with eight points and seven rebounds, while Dwight Lutz chipped in with seven points scored.

Eryk Watson scored a game-high 25 points to lead Maryville, while Greg Hernandez added 15 points and eight rebounds.  Jordan Damron came off the bench with 12 points in 20 minutes of action.

Trinity and UT-Dallas will meet for the first time this season, and for the second time in the NCAA Playoffs.  The last meeting was a 72-66 Trinity first round win in the first round of the 2005 playoffs.