HARTFORD, Conn. – The #8 Trinity College Men's Basketball team hosted Colby College in Oosting Gymnasium for a New England Small College Athletic Conference opener on Friday night. Despite the close point by point climb late in the first half the Bantams were able to pull away in the second with a 83-69 victory. Trinity improved to 14-0, 1-0 on the season, while the Mules dropped to a 7-6, 0-1 record.

Neither team could buy a basket in the opening two minutes of play. The Bantams made some noise with a layup made by graduate Dana Smith at 18:10 to kick-start their 11-0 run over the Mules.  Bantams sophomore Henry Vetter contributed 8 points to lift Trinity to a fourteen point lead over Colby with just under five minutes remaining in the half. Senior Ben Callahan-Gold put up seven points with three close range jumpers and a free throw in the final four minutes to keep the Bantams afloat with just a lead of 36-32 entering the half. 

With another blank start from the Mules the Bantams quickly tacked on the points with an 8-0 run in the first four minutes of the second, 44-32. Colby's Max Poulton put up 8 of his 15 points including back to back steals with 7:05  on the clock to shift the pace of the game. The final minutes became a back and forth battle as the Mules closed the gap to just a 9 point difference after two good free throws from Poulton and a made jumper from David Stewart, 78-69. The Bantams found their way to the charity stripe for three easy points from Drew Lazarre and Jarrel Okorougo, who also made sure to seal the win with a baseline dunk assisted by Callahan-Gold in the final seconds closing out the game 83-69 for the final.

The Bantams had four scorers in double figures, led by a game-high of 20 points from senior Callahan-Gold and a season-high of 17 points from sophomore Jarrel Okorougo. Henry Vetter added a game-high of seven assists with five rebounds and two steals, while Will Dorion had four assists and four boards. 

The Bantams won the rebounding battle, 42-32, and outscored Colby 48-28 in the paint. Trinity converted 33-of-56 (58.9%) from the floor, including 6-of-13 (46.2%) from three-point range. The Mules shot 25-of-66 (37.9%) from the field, 9-of-30 (30.0%) from three-point, and 10-of-16 (62.5%) from the free throw stripe.

The Bantams will be back on the court Saturday for another NESCAC battle as the Bowdoin Polar Bears come to Oosting Gymnasium for a 3:00PM tip off.