HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College Bantams returned from a 20-day layoff to defeat the visiting Framingham State University Rams, 71-51, in the opening round of the Trinity Holiday Men's Basketball Invitational on Ogrodnik Court in Opsting Gymnasium this evening.  Trinity improves to 10-1 and will face the SUNY Farmingdale Rams in the tournament finals tomorrow at 2 p.m.  Framingham State falls to 3-9 and will play the Endicott College Gulls in the consolation game tomorrow at noon.  Farmingdale State defeated Endicott in the other first round contest tonight, 78-65.  Senior captain C.J. Redd (Peekskill, N.Y.) paced the Bantams with 12 points.

Trinity and Framingham State traded leads multiple times during a close first half, and two free throws by Bryan Thompson gave the Rams a 23-22 lead with just under four minutes remaining.  Trinity senior captain Joe Hoch (South Ozone Park, N.Y.) gave the lead back to the home team with 2:39 left on a layup and a trey by Redd and a short jumper by rookie Henry Vetter (Kenilworth, Ill.) put the Bantams ahead, 33-27 at halftime.  Redd led all scorers at the break with 10 points.

Bantam sophomore guard Will Dorion (Needham, Mass.) opened the second half with a jumper in the paint and junior Gilbert Otoo (Burtonsville, Md.) made back-to-back buckets to push Trinity's lead to 39=27 less than a minute after halftime.  Hoch hit a three-pointer with 3:25 remaining to increase give Trinity its largest advantage of the game at 66-44.  Vetter and fellow rookie Jarrel Okorougo (Stoneham, Mass.) joined Redd in double figures in scoring with 10 points apiece off the bench, while Dorion totaled seven points, seven assists, and five rebounds.  Joshua-Daniel Okafor had a game-high 14 points and Jahden Erold grabbed eight rebounds for Framingham State.