Men's Basketball Splits Weekend NESCAC Series

ALEX DAHLEM ’20 CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Trinity College Men’s Basketball team hosted NESCAC opponents Tufts and Bates this past weekend, splitting the series with a tough, hard fought loss on Friday (78-75 OT) and an emphatic win on Senior day (83-66). The Bantams close out their final home series with a 14-8 (5-5 NESCAC) record.
Trinity weekend hoops began on Friday night as the Bantams hosted the 9^th ranked team in the country, Tufts University at the Ray Oosting Gymnasium. Trinity seniors, coming into the home stretch of their college basketball careers, came up big for the Bantams in the upset bid. Co-captain Ed Ogundeko ‘17 had a tremendous game on both ends of the floor, coming up with 23 points, 21 rebounds (including 10 offensive), and 6 blocked shots. Meanwhile, Eric Gendron ‘18 had a very impressive game as well, leading all scorers with 25 points.
Trinity’s front court proved to be the big story on a night when their shooting didn’t show up. The Bantams scored 42 points in the paint compared to only 26 by the Jumbos. Ogundeko’s 10 offensive boards also helped create 19 second chance points, 9 more than the Jumbos could muster.
Trinity, who got out to a hot start, trailed by 6 at halftime and by as much as 10 with under 8 minutes to play in the game. The Bantams were not done however. They closed out the half on a 17-7 run and sent the game to OT with big time play by the two leading scorers as well as Seniors Chris Turnbull ‘17 and Langdon Neal ‘17. Despite the spirited play of Trinity’s upperclassmen, the Jumbos proved to be too much for the Bantams in overtime as the ninth best team in the country barely escaped from Hartford with a win.
Saturday afternoon proved to be a different story for the Bantams as they hosted the Bates College Bobcats (15-8) on Senior Day. Trinity’s four seniors, Ogundeko, Turnbull, Neal, and Horn combined for 52 points in their final regular season home game at Oosting Gymnasium, capping off a tremendous four years for the class of 2017.
Trinity got out to a quick start for the second day in a row, however this time they were able to go wire to wire, leading by 11 (40-29) at halftime and as many as 20 in the second half. After a late surge, the Bobcats managed to cut Trinity’s lead to 9 with 3:22 left. Guard Langdon Neal ‘17 led the Bantams to the finish line as he scored 4 of Trinity’s next 8 points, ending the day with 14 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Ogundeko had another tremendous day, as he led all scorers with 23 points for the second day in a row.
The Bantams finish up their regular season play on February 10 and 11 with games at Hamilton (15-6) and nationally ranked Middlebury (18-3).