(Story Courtesy of Trinity University Sports Information Department)
BELTON, Texas - Trinity University Men's Basketball put together one of its most dominating postseason performances in program history Friday afternoon as it defeated Northwest Conference Champion No. 25 Whitworth University, 77-52, on the campus of No. 6 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
The Tigers' (23-5, 13-3 SCAC) 25-point margin of victory doubled the program's previous best from the 12-point victory over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the second round of the 2005 NCAA III quarterfinal run.
Sophomore guard Tanner Brown collected his first 20-point outing since the turn of the new year to lead all participants including another pair of Tigers in double-digits. Juniors guard Kaleb Jenkins and forward Enzo Sechi scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, the second and fourth-highest individual totals of the contest.
Senior guard AJ Clark rounds out a group of four Tigers in Friday's rotation with a plus-minus over 20 points as he directed traffic in the Trinity offense for a game-high seven assists. Brown and Clark finished Friday's contest with the most positive minutes, plus-36 and plus-31, respectively.
Friday's victory is the first in NCAA III postseason play for the Tiger men since the 2012 campaign where Trinity defeated UMHB in Belton before its second-round matchup with Whitworth.
Trinity Men's Basketball awaits the victor of Friday's evening contest between the Crusaders and Whittier College (CA).
The Rundown
Jenkins powered a game-opening 12-2 run with six points that included a successful three-point play in the first minute.
After the Pirates widdled the margin down to 14-12 for Trinity just before the second media break, a 15-3 stretch for the Tigers capped by a layup from senior guard Ben Hanley just before the final media stoppage for the largest first-half lead at 29-15.
A second Whitworth rebuttal in the final three minutes put the game back to a low-scoring halftime tally of 33-30 as a 15-4 Pirate run was posted.
The Tigers finally returned to a double-digit advantage with 12 minutes to play in the midst of a 10-2 run bookended by a jumper from senior forward David Nickell, marking Clark's fifth assist at the same time.
One final unanswered run of 12 points put the game away for the Tigers in a four-minute stretch of the final six minutes. Seven of Brown's 20 points came in that final run to ice the program's first NCAA III postseason victory in a decade.
Notable Numbers
The Tigers achieved their landslide victory despite making just a pair of three-pointers through the entire 40 minutes, with the second coming from the hands of first-year Jacob Millhouse with 36 seconds to play.
Trinity's defensive effort led to just a 30.6 percent shooting performance from the floor for Whitworth and was coupled with 16 Pirate turnovers to just 11 for the Tigers.
Up Next
Trinity Men's Basketball will battle the winner of Friday night's Mary Hardin-Baylor/Chapman University matchup.
