Trinity Earns Spot in SCAC Tournament With Overtime Win

Colorado Springs, Colo. - The Trinity University Tigers men's basketball team earned a slot in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with a 79-78 overtime victory over the Colorado College Tigers Saturday at Reid Gymnasium.

Trinity (11-12, 8-7 SCAC) will compete in the eight-team SCAC Tournament Feb. 26-28 at Millsaps College in Jackson,. Miss. The Tigers are in third place in the SCAC West Division, with one more conference game to go. Colorado College, in fourth place, stands at 12-11 and 7-7 SCAC. Trinity beat Colorado College 60-50 on Jan. 3 in San Antonio.

The Trinity Tigers went up by six points, 79-73, with 1:36 left in the overtime period, as senior guard Michael Tobolowsky sank two free throws. Colorado College outscored the Tigers 5-0 and pulled to within one point, 78-79, with 28 seconds remaining. Trinity missed baskets and free throws in the final seconds. Jarrell Sweet of Colorado College missed a layup with no time on the clock, as Trinity held on to win.

Trinity led 44-35 at halftime, and went up by as much as 13 points in the first half.  The Texas Tigers went up by 12, 56-44, on a 3-pointer by Tobolowsky with 12:41 left in the second half. Colorado College cut the lead to one point, 60-59, with a steal and layup at 6:28. The Colorado Tigers took a three-point lead, 67-64, at 2:15. Tobolowsky gave Trinity the edge, 68-67, with two free throws at 1:09. A 3-pointer by Sweet put Colorado College up by two, 70-68, with 42 seconds left in regulation. But Trinity junior forward Luke Caldarera grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup with 27 seconds remaining, as the score was tied at 70-70. Sweet missed a jumper at the three-second mark, and Tobolowsky made the defensive rebound, as the game was sent into overtime.

Tobolowsky, from Dallas (Greenhill School), scored 17 points on 5-10 shooting, along with sinking all six free throw attempts. He also had eight rebounds in the game

Caldarera, from Houston (Katy Taylor), led Trinity with 23 points (10-16 shooting) and a double-double, with a game-best 11 rebounds. In addition, Caldarera went over the 900-points plateau in his career.

Senior post Peter Garatoni of San Antonio (MacArthur), added 11 points, shooting 5-10. Senior guard Bart Taylor of San Antonio (St. Mary's Hall), contributed five assists, while scoring five points.

Nick Rose of Colorado College led the game with 33 points.

Trinity shot 47 percent from the field, and 41 percent in 3-point range. Colorado College shot 45 percent from the field and 36 percent in 3-pointers. Trinity led 43-32 in rebounding.

The Trinity Tigers wrap up their SCAC regular-season schedule next Friday in Georgetown, Texas, with Southwestern. Their final regular-season game will be next Saturday at the University of Dallas.