Men’s Basketball splits in Dubuque!
This past weekend Men's basketball traveled to Emmaus University, in Dubuque, Iowa for the Emmaus Kick-OFF Classic! The Lions got the chance to face off against two NCCAA opponents, Emmaus University and Grace Christian University, both from the midwest region.
On day one, the Lions faced off against the host school, Emmaus University Eagles. The Lions came out and took a quick 4-0 lead in the first forty seconds of the game, with a putback layup from Freshman forward Jordan Reeves, and a steal and layup from senior guard Jonathan Ogugua. The Emmaus Eagles responded by connecting on a few threes and took a 9-6 lead. From the next ten minutes, the scoring was back and forth, with the Eagles still up three leading 21-19 with ten minutes left in the first half. The Eagles strung together a few stops and scored in a row. With two minutes left, Emmaus guard Lance Hall Jr. drilled a three-pointer, giving the Eagles a ten-point lead. To close out the first half, Jordan Reeves finished a layup making the score 39 to 48, and then Jonathan Ogugua banked in a legged 3pt shot at the buzzer, making the first score Lions 42, Emmaus 48.
The Lions regrouped at halftime and came out ready to make a second half push! The Lions opened up the second half with another steal and layup from guard Jonathan Ogugua. Ogugua also scored two layups in a row. Ogugua drove the paint for a third time, this time missing the layup, but as it rolled off the front of the rim, Jordan Reeves flew in and slammed it back in! This was a huge momentum shift in the game for the Trinity Lions.Freshman forward Thalit Bayath made a corner three, giving the Lions their first lead of the game in the first forty seconds with the score of 56-55! On the next two possessions, senior forward Damien Walters Jr. drained a three-point shot, followed by another corner three from Thalit Bayath. The Lions connected on four more threes. One from Damien Walters Jr, and then three in a row freshman guard Arsene Metzger! The Lions took a 77-60 lead with 12:20 left on the clock.
The Lions maintained their 17-point lead for the remainder of the game, and went on to win 107-89! Jonathan Ogugua finished with 34 points, ten assists, seven rebounds, and seven steals. Jordan Reeves followed up with 25 points and ten rebounds. Damien Walters Jr. chipped in eleven points and seven rebounds. Arsene Metzger put up ten points off the bench!
On Day two, the Lions faced off against the Grace Christian Tigers! The Tigers came out and took a quick 5-0 lead on the Lions. Jordan Reeves finished a driving And-1 layup to open up the scoring for the Lions! Jordan Reeves scored well in the low post, helping build an early 17-10 lead for the Trinity Lions. Damien Walters Jr. connected on three three-pointers, helping the Lions maintain their lead, closing out the first half with a score of 38-33! The Tigers came out hot in the second half, cutting into the Lions lead and tying the game up at 45 with 13:57 on the game clock. Grace continued to make big shots and maintained a lead for the next few minutes. The Lions responded and made three big threes in a row, one from Arsene Metzger, who had a breakout game, scoring 17 points. The next two threes came from Jonathan Ogugua. With 1:30 left on the game clock, Jonathan Ogugua made another big pull up three to take the lead to 75-73! With 18 seconds left on the clock, Grace Christian hit a three-pointer to take a 76-75 lead. The Lions found freshman guard Anton Geller wide open for a layup with 5.7 seconds left on the clock! Grace came racing down the court and drew a foul. They made two free throws in a row to secure the 7, 78-77 victory. The Lions are now 2-1 on the season and will be back in action on Tuesday, November 11th for an exhibition game vs Bismarck State College.
