Worcester, Mass. – Freshman forward Tyler Rhoten (Ridgewood, N.J.) scored a game-high 30 points, making 13 out of 17 shots from the field and all four of his free throws, and added six rebounds to lead the visiting Trinity College Bantams to an 82-77 win over the Clark University Cougars in men’s basketball action this evening at Kneller Athletic Center. Trinity improves to 13-6 with its second straight win, while the Cougars, ranked No. 4 in the Northeast region, drop to 15-5 with their first loss in their last six games.
Clark held the lead for the majority of the game, until a three-pointer from the left wing and a fastbreak lay-in by senior tri-captain forward Ryan Uszenski (Woodbridge, N.J.) tied the game at 70-70 with four minutes left on the clock. The last of four trifectas in the game by Clark junior guard David McNamara (Worcester, Mass.) put the Cougars back ahead, 73-72, with 2:43 remaining, but two free throws by Rhoten and a three-pointer by Bantam sophomore guard John Halas (White Plains, N.Y.) gave the advantage back to Trinity at 77-73 with one minute left to play.
Clark cut the lead to two on a lay-up by senior center Chris Bagdis (Paxton, Mass.), and Trinity held the ball for almost the full 35 seconds before sophomore guard Jesse Farrell (Minneapolis, Minn.) drilled his third three-pointer of the game from 30 feet away to put the Bantams up by five at 80-75. Cougar senior co-captain guard Sean Fleming (Smithfield, R.I.) hit a 10-footer to make the score, 80-77, with :08 on the clock before Rhoten iced the game with a pair of free throws.
Rhoten, who scored 30-plus points for the second game in a row, was joined by Uszenski, Halas, and senior tri-captain forward Corey Days (Baltimore, Md.) in double figures in scoring for Trinity. Uszenski also had four assists, while Halas dished out five assists, and Days notched a team-high 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. Farrell, who tallied six assists, Halas, and Uszenski made three three-point shots each, as the Bantams shot 45.0 percent from beyond the arc. Trinity made 20 out of 28 shots from the field (71.4 percent) and five out of nine shots from three-point range in the second half, and outrebounded the Cougars, 32-23, for the game.
McNamara paced the Cougars with 20 points, while Fleming had 15 points and four assists, and junior forward Trevor Walker (Milford, Mass.) contributed 14 points. Bagdis made five out of his six field goal attempts for 10 points.
| Teams | 1st | 2nd | OT | Final |
| Trinity, Conn. (13-6) | 31 | 51 | -- | 82 |
| Clark (15-5) | 40 | 37 | -- | 77 |
SCORING
TC- Tyler Rhoten 13-17 4-4 30, Ryan Uszenski 6-12 (3) 3-4 18, John Halas 5-11
(3) 0-0 13, Corey Days 5-8 0-0 10, Jesse Farrell 3-4 (3) 0-0 9, Darren Baker 1-2
0-0 2, Shaun Smyth 0-2 0-0 0, Aaron Goldstein 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals: 33-56 (9) 7-8 82.
C- Dave
McNamara 7-13 (4) 2-2 20, Sean Fleming 6-14 (3) 0-0 15, Trevor Walker 6-13 (2)
0-0 14, Chris Bagdis 5-6 0-1 10, Pat Oroszko 4-7 0-0 8, Tim Dutille 2-3 0-0 4,
Rob Skowyra 2-2 0-1 4, Brent Kenneway 1-3 0-0 2, Rob McKinney 0-0 0-0 0, Matt
Phaneuf 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals: 33-62 (9) 2-4 77.