(Story courtesy of Trinity University)
SHERMAN, Texas - The Trinity Tiger men's basketball team won its second consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship with a 60-55 overtime thriller over Colorado College on Sunday afternoon. Official Tournament Website | Box Score
Trinity won for the 20th time this season, improving to 20-7 overall, and Colorado College fell to 16-11 on the year. The two teams came in as the top seeds in the tournament, and have now split four meetings this season.
Colorado College was able to rally from 13 points down in the second half to tie the game with 15 seconds remaining, and Trinity's potential game-winner at the buzzer didn't fall.
Trinity's Heath Hopson propelled Trinity to an eight-point lead (53-45) in overtime, scoring four points and picking up two assists in the first three minutes. Colorado College kept it close in the final two minutes with a three-point play and a three-point basket from Ryan Milne, but Trinity made 7-8 from the foul line over the final 1:42 to hang on for the win.
Colorado College struggled to shoot the ball in the game, particularly in a 6-26 (23.1%) first half of play that led to a 27-19 Trinity lead at the break. Trinity started the game with a 13-2 run, but then went cold as well, allowing Colorado to rally to within two points with 3:10 to go. Trinity finished the half with a 6-0 run to take the momentum right back.
In the second half, it was Colorado who came out hot, scoring seven of the first eight points to tie the game 28-28 less than five minutes into the period. After a key timeout, Trinity scored 13 unanswered points to regain control.
Trinity went ice cold in the second half, hitting just 4-26 (15.4%) from the field, and Colorado outscored Trinity 17-4 over the final 11:07 of regulation to force overtime.
Hopson and Robert Kitzinger of Trinity scored 16 points each to lead all scorers, combining to go 12-12 from the line and pull down 15 total rebounds. Milne led Colorado with 15 points in 42 minutes of action, while Ian Rewoldt finished with a game-high 16 rebounds. All four players earned All-Tournament honors, with Hopson being named the Tournament Most Valuable Player. Also on the All-Tournament Team were Austin College's Austin Phillips and Southwestern University's Sean Myers.
