Posted: Feb 23, 2019
SEGUIN, Texas - The Texas Lutheran men, who struggled to put away a pesky Trinity squad, made a couple of key stops and sank clutch free throws down the stretch to take a hard-earned 64-60 victory in Saturday's final semifinal of the SCAC Basketball Tournament. Official Tournament Website | Post-game Interview w/Texas Lutheran
The victory advances TLU to the championship game for the fourth time in the last five years. The Bulldogs won three consecutive championships from 2015 to 2017.
HOW IT HAPPENED
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Texas Lutheran built a huge first-half lead and threatened to run away and hide from Trinity. The lead reached its zenith when, after being fouled on a three-point attempt, Jacob Kouremetis sank all three three free throws to give the Bulldogs a 32-13 lead with 4:57 remaining in the half.
- Trinity, however, scored the next 13 points of the half to cut the TLU lead to 32-26.
- Texas Lutheran was able to keep Trinity at arm's length until the final minute when Trinity scored five straight points on a three-point play from Jordan Lippman and a layup by AJ Clark cut the margin to 59-57 with 33 seconds remaining.
- TLU made 4 of 5 free throws down the stretch and held on for the 64-60 win.
- Neither team shot particularly well as Trinity was held to 24.0 percent (6-25) in the first half and 37.0 percent (20-54) for the game while TLU managed just 35.3 percent (18-51) for the contest. Trinity was just 1 for 9 (11.1 percent) from distance while TLU was much better at 9 for 28 (32.1 percent).
TEXAS LUTHERAN STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Nathan Josephs: 16 poits, 4 rebounds, 4 assits
- Shawn Hamilton: 13 points, 5 rebounds
- Jackson Willoughby: 10 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block
TRINITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Ben Hanley: 13 points, 7 rebounds
- Jordan Lippman: 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
- Danny Rivara: 11 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block
NOTABLES
- Texas Lutheran is playing for the SCAC title for the fourth time in the last five years and is 3-0 in its previous title game experiences.
- Texas Lutheran is attempting to become just the second men's team in the SCAC tournament era (2003 to present) to win the conference tourney on its home floor. Trinity won the 2014 title on its home floor. No women's team has won on its home floor (TLU women also play for the title tomorrow).
- With both the TLU women and men playing for conference titles tomorrow, the Bulldogs will attempt to become the fifth institution to sweep both championships at the same event in the modern era (2003 to present). DePauw won both titles in 2003, Trinity won both in 2005, DePauw won both in 2006 and Trinity won both in 2013.
- Trinity ends its season with a 7-20 record
UP NEXT
Texas Lutheran (18-9) advances to take on Dallas (11-16) tomorrow at 2 p.m. CT. The winner will recieve the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Sunday marks the second-straight year and third time overall that TLU and Dallas have matched up in the SCAC Tournamnt with the Bulldogs winning on both occasions.
