It's now or never for the Schreiner University men's basketball to cement its season with a win over Trinity University tonight in San Antonio.
The Mountaineers are the surprise of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, where they picked to finish dead last, but Schreiner has won five consecutive games and 11 of its last 12 games to claim a share of second place. The game is at 6 p.m.
A victory over Trinity and Texas Lutheran upsetting St. Thomas on Tuesday could give the Mountaineers a share of the SCAC regular-season title. Those are some big ifs, but anything is possible in the SCAC, which has seen plenty of close games and upsets this season.
Schreiner lost to Trinity back on Dec. 4 in overtime. Trinity outscored the Mountaineers 16-5 in overtime to seal the win in Kerrville. However, the Mountaineers were starting to understand their lineup at the time. Kamden Ross, a reserve playing just 25 minutes in that first game, has emerged as one of the conference's top scorers and rebounders.
Ross is now the second leading rebounder in the conference — averaging 9.4 rebounds per game. But over his last nine games, Ross had seven double-doubles (points and rebounds). He was a force in the Mountaineers comeback win against Dallas on Saturday.
In that loss against Trinity, the Mountaineers had a troubling performance from 3-point range, while Trinity torched Schreiner for 14 3-pointers in that game.
In a head-to-head matchup, Trinity averages 84 points per game to Schreiner's 77. However, the two teams are evenly matched statistically in other areas — turnovers, rebounds and free-throw percentage.
The Schreiner University women, however, face a significant test at home tonight against Trinity, which blasted the Mountaineers 122-75 last week.
Trinity is 14-0 in the SCAC, 21-2 overall and ranked No. 20 in the NCAA Division III women's poll. When the two teams met in San Antonio, Trinity forced Schreiner into 33 turnovers and then shot 66% from the field and 63% from the 3-point range.
