ATHENS, Texas – For the better part of 40 minutes, the Blinn men's basketball team found itself in a gridlock battle with 18th-ranked Trinity Valley here Wednesday.
But a Cardinal run midway through the second half gave Trinity Valley the advantage it needed to beat the Buccaneers 81-75 in a Region XIV Conference showdown.
"I thought the first half we played our tempo and style of play," Blinn (11-4, 2-3) coach Scott Schumacher said. "But in the second half they got on a run and pulled ahead by 15 points and we had to fight back the rest of the way."
Trinity Valley (17-1, 7-0) utilized its size advantage in the post –– it had 6-foot-11 and 6-9 forwards –– and also capitalized on a Blinn's cold shooting touch to pull ahead. The Cardinals had ample second-chance opportunities offensively because of their size in the paint, which put the Bucs in foul trouble late in the game.
Trinity Valley shot 31 of 42 from the free throw line to the Bucs' 15-for-20 night.
"You look at the score and then see they shot 22 more free throws than us tonight and that's a big difference in the game," Schumacher said.
Sophomore Cornell Barnett, a 6-foot-7 post, scored 21 points for Blinn and helped the Bucs negate some of Trinity Valley's size. Freshmen Lionheart Leslie and Roderick Harris scored 12 points.
"After Trinity Valley's run I thought we really fought hard to get back in the game, but it's tough to make that big of a comeback late in the second half," Schumacher said.
