Trinity (13-3, 5-1) held a slim 32-31 lead at halftime, rebounding from a 6-0 Southwestern run to start the game. The Pirates started to pull away into the second half, building a nine-point lead (55-46) with 9:11 remaining. The Tigers stormed back with a 9-0 run sparked by Jason Morris, who had four points and two rebounds in a span of 40 seconds that left the game tied at 55-55 with 6:58 left.
Neither team hit another field goal - but did manage free throws - until the 3:40 mark when Justin Westmoreland put Southwestern ahead 60-57 with a short jump shot. After two more free throws by Sean Devins, the Tigers had cut the lead to just one with 3:11 to go. Devins scored 11 straight Trinity points, including a three-point play on a dunk with 1:25 left that gave the Tigers a 64-60 lead. After another Devins layup with 25 seconds left, Southwestern's Kyle Ellisor poured in his fourth three-pointer to cut the lead to just two points (66-64) with 15 seconds to play.
Trinity brought the ball up and passed it around, until senior Shane Fitts was fouled with five seconds to play. After a Southwestern timeout, Fitts hit the first free throw, and then following another Pirate timeout, the senior knocked down the second free throw - sealing the win after a desperation three-pointer went in for Westmoreland.
Devins finished with a career-high 23 points on 8-10 shooting to lead all players, as well as converting 7-7 from the foul line. He also had four rebounds and five blocks in his 22 minutes off the bench. Morris scored nine points in the second half and finished wit h14 for the game, as well as pulling in a game-high eight boards.
Westmoreland led Southwestern with 16 points on 6-10 shooting, including 4-6 from beyond the arc. Ellisor hit 4-4 three-pointers and finished with 15 points in 19 minutes off the bench for the Pirates.
Peter Murray had nine points and five rebounds for Trinity, while Andy Bates had eight points and four boards, and Chad Stroberg recorded four steals.
Jared Woytasczyk had 13 points and four rebounds for Southwestern, hitting 9-10 from the free throw line.
Trinity shot 48.1% from the field, including 54.2% in the first half. Southwestern shot 52.4% in the second half, and finished with a 41.3% shooting percentage. The Tigers hit 13-16 free throws, but just 3-13 three-pointers. Southwestern hit 18-24 foul shots and 11-19 (57.9%) from long-distance. It was the 11th time in the last 13 games in this series that the margin of victory has been less than 10 points, and the fifth time in the last seven meetings that a team has won by three or fewer points.
Trinity takes a slim half-game lead in the conference standings, and will face University of Dallas in a non-conference doubleheader with the women's team on Saturday night.