Trinity’s top-seeded men’s basketball team advanced to the SCAC Championships with a 69-61 win in the semifinals over Southwestern University on Saturday evening.
After a slow start to the game, the Tigers took their first lead on Robert Kitzinger’s three-point basket with 9:47 to play until the half. That bucket was in the early part of a 14-0 Trinity run that pushed the lead to double digits. The Tigers led 30-20 at the break, holding Southwestern to just six field goals and 24% shooting.
Trinity led by 14 points with just under three minutes to play, but Southwestern was able to make one final push to stay alive in the tournament. The Pirates started fouling at that point, and eventually cut the lead down to six with 44 seconds remaining as the Tigers struggled to hit just 2-6 free throws at one point.
Kitzinger finished with a Trinity-best 23 points in the game, knocking down 7-14 from the field and 6-7 from the foul line. Heath Hopson had an outstanding game for the Tigers as well, scoring 20 points to go with a game-high 12 rebounds. Hopson hit 14-17 from the foul line – including several free throws down the stretch.
After missing three free throws earlier in the game, Hopson finished strong and helped seal the victory with six straight foul shots in the final 41 seconds. Trinity nailed its final nine shots from the charity stripe, hanging on for the win in the end.
Southwestern made a strong run early in the second half of play, cutting a 13-point lead down to five (36-31) with 14:21 to play, but Trinity scored eight of nine points shortly after that to push the lead back to double figures, and seemed to be in command until the final Pirates push in the final minutes.
Sean Myers led Southwestern with 24 points and nine rebounds, hitting 8-13 from the field and 8-11 from the foul line. Myers was the only Pirates player in double figures. Chris Lee came off the bench with eight points, while Chase Kocher finished with seven points and four rebounds.
Trinity will face either #2 seed Colorado College or hosting Austin College – the sixth seed – in tomorrow’s SCAC Championship. The Tigers are attempting to win back-to-back conference titles, after winning the SCAC Tournament in 2012.