December 29, 2004
Trinity Tops Sixth-Ranked Illinois Wesleyan at Tournament
Georgetown, Texas - The Trinity men's basketball team defeated Illinois Wesleyan, ranked sixth in the latest D3hoops.com national poll, by the final of 67-63 at the Southwestern/Trinity Holiday Classic on Wednesday evening.
Trinity (5-4) trailed 24-26 at the half, and outscored Illinois Wesleyan 10-6 in the overtime period. The Tigers, unranked in the national polls, led by as many as five points in the first half, but could not hang on to the lead. Halfway through the second half, Illinois Wesleyan had built a 41-31 advantage, but Trinity used a 19-8 run to pull ahead by one point (50-49) with 3:23 remaining.
Illinois Wesleyan would not give up so easily, though, rattling off six points in less than one minute to pull ahead by five. The Tigers followed with their own five-point run, capped by a Jason Morris three-pointer with 1:31 left, and tying the game at 55-55. Illinois Wesleyan hit a layup with just over one minute left, and after a Trinity missed three-pointer, it looked like the game was in hand. Ross Burt was not ready to let that happen though, recording a steal with 21 seconds left, and then sending the game into overtime with a two-point bucket with just three seconds remaining. As if there wasn't enough drama already, Trinity forced a turnover on the next possession, and Morris hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have won the game. However, the officials ruled that the shot was too late, and the teams went to the extra period.
Sean Devins took over the game in overtime, scoring eight of the team's 10 points in the final frame, and helping the Tigers to a five-point lead with one minute left. Devins finished with 22 points and six rebounds to lead the Tigers, as well as recording three blocks. Devins hit 8-13 from the field and 5-8 from the line en route to his 22 points, including 1-2 from three-point range.
Burt added 19 points, including his game-tying shot at the end of regulation, and hit 8-12 from the field and 3-5 three-point shots. Burt also had four rebounds and two steals in his 31 minutes off the bench.
For Illinois Wesleyan, Keelan Amelianovich hit 8-18 shots for a game-high 23 points, and Zach Freeman scored 14 points and grabbed eight boards before fouling out of the game. Amelianovich also hit 3-6 three-pointers to help lead the team to shoot 50% (7-14) from long distance and 43.5% overall from the field.
Trinity hit 41.1% from the field and just 7-21 three-point shots, but still managed the win by limiting Illinois Wesleyan to just three shots in overtime.
Andy Bates and Jason Morris each chipped in with eight points for the Tigers, while Adam Dauksas and Mike McGraw chipped in with nine and eight poitns, respectively, for Illinois Wesleyan.
Trinity will face Ohio Wesleyan in continued tournament action tomorrow evening at Southwestern. Ohio Wesleyan lost 61-75 to Southwestern in the other game of the tournament today.