MEMPHIS – Friday night's game for the Trevecca Nazarene University men's basketball team had no bearing on the Gulf South Conference standings. The Trojans knew entering play they would be the six seed in the upcoming GSC Championship, and the Christian Brothers University Buccaneers knew their season was coming to an end without a postseason berth regardless of the outcome. Still, coming off a tough night on Wednesday, Trevecca needed to get things back on track heading into the playoffs, and while it took an extra five minutes to do it, that is exactly what Trevecca accomplished.
Trevecca (18-10, 13-9 GSC) was unable to protect their halftime lead, but they forced overtime, and in the extra session, the Trojans held CBU (5-22, 4-18 GSC) to just 1-for-8 shooting and Trevecca outscored the Bucs 10-5 to take the win 94-89.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Trojans roared out of the gate. Four Trevecca players -
Fred Bailey,
Da'Shon Fisher,
Brett Wright, and
Jax Abernathy - combined to score the game's first nine points, and the Trojans held the Bucs off the scoreboard for nearly three full minutes. CBU answered with an 8-0 run as Trevecca went more than three minutes without scoring, but Trevecca kept the lead. CBU inched in front at 21-20 with 8:32 to play, but a 12-1 Trevecca run gave the Trojans a 32-22 lead, and at the break, Trevecca led by nine, 37-28.
The Trojans pushed their lead to 11 twice in the opening moments of the second stanza, but CBU mounted a 7-0 run to close the gap to 41-37 with 17:02 on the clock. Trevecca held the lead for the next several minutes, but they were unable to build their margin back up, and with 1:04 to play, CBU went back in front, 56-55. After the Trojans briefly took the lead back on a dunk from Fisher, the Bucs put together another 8-0 spurt to take a 64-57 lead.
Mason Brown broke the run with a 3-pointer, but Trevecca was unable to make an immediate dent into the margin. With 6:06 to play, CBU still led by seven, and twice their lead swelled to nine. With 4:01 to play, Bailey jammed home a dunk to cut the deficit to 78-71, and he and Abernathy led Trevecca on a 10-2 run that closed the deficit to 80-79. Four straight CBU points pushed the lead back to five with 55 seconds to play, but a pair of Abernathy charity tosses and a 3-point play from Bailey knotted things at 84 and sent the game to overtime.
In the extra session, Trevecca opened with a 6-0 run, and they held CBU without a bucket in their first five attempts from the floor. Christian Brothers scored the next three points, but the Trojans held the line, and consecutive buckets from
Justin Bass and Fisher pushed Trevecca's lead to 94-87 before a pair of CBU free throws with 15 seconds left in overtime provided the final margin of 94-89.
THE TEAM
The Trojans again shot the ball at nearly a 50% clip from the floor, where they made 39 of 79, but they struggled from long range. The Trojans went only 5-for-23 (21.7%) from beyond the arc, but at the foul line, Trevecca was 11-for-15 (73.3%) from the foul line. CBU out-rebounded the Trojans 47-42, but the Trojans dished out 26 assists to only nine turnovers, while CBU had 22 assists and 13 giveaways. Trevecca obliterated CBU in the paint, where the Trojans more than doubled up the Bucs 68-32. Trevecca also had the edge in points off turnovers (21-11), fast break points (36-24), and bench points (37-15).
THE PLAYERS
Fisher led the Trojans with 20 points in the game, and he was joined in double figures by Bailey (17) and Abernathy (12). Bailey led Trevecca with eight rebounds, and Abernathy reeled in seven boards.
Tyler Moore doled out nine assists and Bailey added seven helpers.
GSC RACE
The middle four seeds in the GSC Championship came down to a pair of tiebreakers. Trevecca finished the season tied for fifth place with Valdosta State, but the Trojans lost the tiebreaker to the Blazers and are seeded sixth. That will earn them a trip south in the opening round of the tournament, where they will head to the Gulf coast after West Florida earned the third seed on a tiebreaker over Alabama-Huntsville.
UP NEXT
The Trojans will be making their second trip of the year to Pensacola, Florida in the opening round of the GSC Championship. Trevecca will take on the West Florida Argonauts (22-8) at 7 p.m. The Trojans and Argonauts met twice in the regular season, with each team winning on the other's home court.
