Box Score
Box Score
In a battle of two Tiger squads, Sewanee and Trinity found themselves locked in a defensive battle after one half of play in men's basketball action in Sewanee Friday night. But the Texas Tigers got 11 second half points from Sam Dworkin to pull away and take home a 58-40 victory, dropping homestanding Sewanee to 5-8 overall and 1-5 in SCAC play.
Sewanee got on the board quickly when sophomore Tyler Brown (Goodlettsville, Tenn., Beech) grabbed his own rebound and put it back for an early 2-0 lead. Trinity responded with a layup by Jonathan Wilt to even it at 2-2. The two squads traded 3-pointers, Sewanee's from Valentino Bryant (Hendersonville, Tenn., Beech) and Trinity's from Robert Kitzinger, to stay even at 5-5, before trading baskets again to stay tied at seven apiece.
The host Tigers went on a 6-2 run to pull ahead, 13-9, before Trinity scored five straight to take a one point lead, 13-14, with 13:25 left in the first half. Trinity then went on a 11-0 run over the next 12 minutes to go ahead 13-25 before Sewanee finally broke their dry spell. Bryant knocked down one of two free throws after being fouled by Zach Lambert to cut the Trinity lead to 11, 14-25, with 1:49 left in the period. Heath Hopson nailed a lay up to put the Texas Tigers up 14-27 just 30 seconds later. With just 43 seconds left in the half, Trent Williams (Lawrenceburg, Tenn., Lawrence County High School) nailed a 3-pointer for Sewanee, their first field goal in over 14 minutes, to make it 17-27 Trinity heading into intermission.
The two teams traded baskets to open up the second half but Trinity hit three straight 3-pointers to take a 19 point lead, Lewis Affronti (Virginia Beach, Va., Norfolk Academy) and Williams each knocked down a trey for Sewanee to quiet the Trinity rush and cut the lead to 13, 25-38, but Dworkin got an old-fashioned three point play, knocking down a driving basket, getting fouled by Sewanee's Brett Bouldin (Crossville, Ala., Crossville), and nailing the free throw, to push the lead back to 16, 25-41.
Sewanee's Bryan Beviacqua (Gulf Shores, Ala., Gulf Shores) responded with an old-fashioned three point play of his own, nailing the jumper and the free throw after being fouled by Dworkin to help Sewanee pull within 13, 28-41, but it was as close as the Tennessee Tigers would get for the rest of the contest.
Trinity went on a 14-1 run and extended their lead to as many as 24, 31-55, before Sewanee used a 6-1 run to cut the lead to 19 with just over three minutes remaining in the contest. After Will Merrell (Charlotte, N.C., Cannon School) connected on a pair of free throws to make it 37-56, Clarke Allan made it 37-57 when hit one of two from the charity stripe. Freshman Hudson Duncan (Houston, Texas, St. John's ) finished out the Sewanee effort with a 3-pointer with 1:18 play. Gil Melchier hit one of two from the line with 58 seconds left in the contest to make the final 58-40, giving Trinity their fourth straight SCAC victory.
Valentino Bryant led Sewanee with seven points, while Lewis Affronti and Tyler Brown each chipped in six. Dworkin led all scorers with 13. Anvil Nelson (Brentwood, Tenn., Brentwood) grabbed six rebounds and Brown added five, as Trinity held the edge in rebounding, 44-31, in the contest.
As a team, Sewanee struggled to find their touch all night long. The Tennessee Tigers shot just 26.5% from the field in the contest, going 13 of 49, including a 7 of 31 performance from the 3-point line. The Texas Tigers shot 40.7% from the field after going 22 of 54 on the night. The visiting Tigers went 8 of 23 from beyond the arc. Sewanee turned the ball over 16 times in the contest, while Trinity gave it up 14 times.
Trinity moves to 7-7 on the year and 4-2 in the conference with the win. Sewanee will host Southwestern at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Southwestern in 4-10 overall and 2-3 in the SCAC after an 83-59 loss at Oglethorpe on Friday.
