Basketball Advances to Semis

Trinity forward Tyler Rhoten '06 and guard Kino Clarke '07 led five Bantams in double-figures, as the second seed in the NESCAC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament upended the seventh-seeded Colby White Mules on Saturday. Rhoten had 18 points and 12 rebounds and Clarke finished with 18 points in the 84-81 win at Oosting Gymnasium.Back on Jan. 27, Trinity easily defeated the hapless Mules in a 68-48 rout. On Saturday, the home team had much more difficulty in defeating Colby in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.

Tied at 31 entering the second half, Trinity built a lead of 13 points twice but was unable to put away the Mules for good. With just over 2:30 left in the game, the Bantams led 78-65 before a 16-4 Colby run pulled them within one, 82-81, with about seven seconds remaining.

Rhoten was fouled and hit both free throws, but it remained a one-possession game, 84-81. Colby missed a three point attempt and Russ Martin '08 grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded.

"Obviously we didn't close out this game the way we would have liked," said Martin. "It's something that every team has to work on, and we're no exception. This is the playoffs and a win is a win, but as coach told us after the game, we still need to learn from our mistakes and continue to improve every game."

Pat Martin '07 had another solid performance for his new school, finishing with 15 points and six assists. Swingmen Paul Rowe '09 and Aaron Westbrooks '09 each chipped in 12 points for the Bantams, who shot 22 for 27 (82 percent) from the line to ice the victory.

The Bantams clawed their way to the win against the feisty Mules in a game highlighted by scrambles for loose balls, batted rebounds, and broken plays. Trinity capitalized on several of those plays, as Westbrooks and Michael Hoar '07 found themselves open for easy lay-ups as the shot clock wound down.

Late in the second half, with six seconds remaining on the shot clock, Pat Martin curled to the arc from the baseline and stuck a fall away three pointer in front of the Trinity fans, bringing them to their feet.

"Colby has a very good basketball team," said Russ Martin. "They always run down the shot clock and really grind the game, and that's not always easy to play against."

The Bantams' defense was unable to stop a trio of Colby scorers, as center Drew Cohen '07 finished with a game-high 29 points, forward Andrew Jenkins '06 with 24, and guard Mark Gaudet '08 with 19 to carry the offense.

Three point shooting kept the Mules in the game, as the team shot 54 percent on 7-of-13 shooting. Jenkins led the way with six three pointers, while Cohen added three of his own. Gaudet, Jenkins, and Cohen combined for 72 of their team's 81 points in the game.

Russ Martin was not surprised at the offensive output of the Colby trio and believes his team is never satisfied in letting stopping role players alone.

"Going into the game, we knew that Colby had three players very capable of scoring every time they touched the ball, and a bunch of role players that also could hurt us," he said. "Our strategy is pretty much the same every game, and that is to play hard defense on everyone. I don't think there is anyone on our team that would be OK saying, "We'll let someone get their points and try to shut down everyone else. We feel like we can play defense on everyone."

The Bantams had much more success on the offensive end, as all seven players who entered the game wearing white scored.

Trinity travels to top-seeded Amherst on Saturday, where they will face the third seed in the tournament, the Tufts Jumbos, in the semifinal round.

"We'll approach [Saturday's game] like we have for all our games, and work as hard as we can to be prepared mentally and physically," said Martin, who adds that the team's senior leadership and experience could give them an advantage as they play deeper into the postseason.

"We have the best guys any team could ask for to lead [us] into the tournament," he says. "Going into the tournament with these four guys certainly makes you feel a little better and calmer going into an environment like Amherst.