Hartford, Conn.- Freshman guard John Halas (White Plains, N.Y.) sank the game-winning half court shot off the backboard as time expired to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 74-71 win over the visiting Wesleyan University Cardinals in the semi-final round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men’s Basketball Championship at Oosting Gymnasium this afternoon.

Trinity, seeded No. 1 in the tournament, improves to 18-4 for the season with its sixth consecutive victory, and will play No. 4-seeded Amherst in the finals tomorrow at noon. Amherst defeated Williams, 69-62, in the other semi-final game, also at Trinity, at noon. The finals will be a rematch of last season's NESCAC final, won by Amherst, 86-75, in Hartford. Wesleyan, seeded No. 6, finishes its season at 15-10.

Wesleyan senior guard Leo Jones (Englewood, N.J.) had 18 of his game-high 28 points in the first half and sophomore guard Keala Mills (Lenox, Mass.) added 11 first-half points to help the Cardinals take a 39-35 lead into intermission. The Cardinals made four out seven of their three-point tries and nine out of 10 from the foul line in the first half. The Cardinals maintained their advantage for the first 12 minutes of the second half, until back-to-back three-point shots by Trinity senior tri-captain guard Matt Jones (Meriden, Conn.) gave the Bantams their first lead of the game at 58-57.

With the Cardinals leading, 62-60, with 4:22 to play in the game, Bantam senior tri-captain Bryan Dion (East Haven, Conn.) took a charge from a driving Leo Jones, nullifying a Wesleyan basket and disqualifying Jones for his fifth personal foul. Wesleyan kept its lead for over four minutes without its leading scorer, before Trinity senior tri-captain swingman Colin Tabb (Somers, Conn.) drained an off-balance three-pointer to tie the score at 71-71 with 12 seconds left on the clock. Cardinal junior co-captain guard Chad Gordon (Los Angeles, Calif.) missed a driving layup with four seconds left, and Halas grabbed the long rebound for Trinity. The freshman dribbled to just over half court before launching a desperation heave toward the Trinity rim that banged in off the backboard.

Tabb paced Trinity with 25 points, making nine out of 15 shots from the field, and nine rebounds, while Dion tallied 19 points, nine boards, and four steals. Leo Jones finished 10 rebounds, four assists, and five assists to go with his 28 points. Mills and Wesleyan sophomore forward Kanem Johnson (New Haven, Conn.) scored 15 points apiece for the Cardinals.

W- Leo Jones 11-18 (1) 5-7 28, Kanem Johnson 4-7 7-9 15, Keala Mills 4-9 (4) 3-4 15, Chris Bray 1-2 4-4 6, Bryan MacBeth 2-3 0-0 4, Kahree Brown 1-5 1-5 3, Chad Gordon 0-5 0-0 0, Tim Holland 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Zelmanowitz 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 23-49 (5) 20-30 71.

TC- Colin Tabb 9-15 (2) 5-7 25, Bryan Dion 7-13 (1) 4-8 19, Matt Jones 3-7 (3) 0-0 9, Ryan Uszenski 2-6 (1) 0-2 5, John Halas 2-5 (1) 0-0 5, Corey Days 2-3 0-1 4, Rick Hein 0-2 3-6 3, Jarod Greene 1-1 0-0 2, Darren Baker 1-3 0-0 2, Jesse Farrell 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 27-56 (8) 12-24 74.