The Trinity men’s basketball team split their games this past weekend as they beat Texas Lutheran University on Friday, Feb. 14, then lost to Schreiner University on Saturday, Feb. 15. Following the win and loss, the Tigers now have a 15-9 record overall and a 10-3 conference record, which places them top in the SCAC.

In their first game of the weekend on Friday, Feb. 14, the Tigers beat TLU 74-50 in an away game. Senior Robert Kitzinger lead the Tigers with 22 points, followed by junior Matt Selling with 11 points and senior Jonathan Wilt with 9 points. Kitzinger also lead rebounds with 6, then by Selling again, who had 5.

“We played with a lot of energy and we played hard and had good team chemistry when we played against TLU,” Kitzinger said.

The following day, the Tigers took on Schreiner in another away match, where they narrowly fell 61-62. This was the second close loss Trinity has had against Schreiner this season. During that game, Kitzinger and Lambert lead the team with 15 points each, and Wilt and Selling both brought in 10 points for the Tigers. Kitzinger, junior Matt Hopper and senior John Lavanway all grabbed 5 rebounds for the Tigers on the night.

“In our first half against Schreiner we played well, but we just didn’t keep it up for two halves. We didn’t keep the same energy throughout the game,” Kitzinger said.

Assistant coach Ross Burt adds, “I thought we defended really well in the first half against Schreiner on Saturday. We need to make sure we are focused for the entire 40 minutes, rather than just a half or in spurts.

This upcoming weekend, the men face Southwestern University away on Friday, Feb. 21, in their last regular-season SCAC game. Going into the game, the Tigers are still top-ranked in the conference at 10-3, but if they do not win the game, they will not be top-ranked going into the SCAC Championships.

“The next game against Southwestern is a must-win for us. It will determine whether or not we hold on to the one seed going into the conference tournament. I feel confident about the postseason. We have been steadily improving and I think we will play even better in the tournament,” said senior Zach Lambert.

The SCAC Championship is next weekend, Feb. 28 through March 2, after the last regular-season games of the year.

This year, the SCAC Championship is held at Trinity University. All eight teams will play, but only the champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII National Championships. Other teams will need an at-large bid to qualify.