Men’s, Women’s Basketball Endure Rollercoaster Weekend

ALEX DAHLEM ’20 CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The final weekend of the men’s and women’s basketball regular seasons saw wins for both teams against Hamilton and losses against Middlebury. The men won comfortably against Hamilton on Friday night (67-53) before losing to a potent and experienced Middlebury team on Saturday (97-80), while the women won an exciting game on Friday against Hamilton (63-58) before losing the conference regular season closer to Middlebury on Saturday (65-59).
Hamilton proved to be difficult right out of the gate as the Bantams and Continentals traded blows in the first half. Ed Ogundeko ’17, Trinity’s double-double machine, gave the Bantams a one-point lead with seven minutes left in the game after producing an old fashioned three-point play. Trinity then went on a 21-0 run (including baskets on 10 straight possessions) and never looked back.
Major contributors for the Bantams were Ogundeko (19 points, 17 rebounds), Eric Gendron (16 points), and Chris Turnbull (12 points).
The Trinity men then hopped on a bus and headed to Vermont for a daytime matchup against the 13^th best team in the country, the Middlebury Panthers.
Trinity’s fate at Middlebury was much different than the impressive win on Friday night as the four integral seniors only managed to score a combined 27 points, a number that has been much higher in times past.
Fans got a taste of the future of the Bantams program as Sophomore Jeremy Arthur ’19 led Trinity in scoring with 19 points while First-years Kyle Padmore and Christian Porydzy ’20 both played well in the second half.
While the men were on the road, the Trinity women’s basketball team enjoyed their final home series of the year in Hartford, as they squared off against Hamilton and Middlebury.
A back and forth game against the Continentals kept Trinity fans on the edge of their seats. The grittiness of this young Bantams team showed in the final minutes as the score was still close. Up three points, with just over a minute left, Guard Erica Junquet ’19 dove into the scorer’s table in order to save a loose ball. The sophomore would then go on to make two clutch free throws down the stretch to give Trinity the 5-point lead that they would retain. Courtney Erickson ’19 continued her torrid play with 22 points while Rebecca Reifler ’19 came off the bench alongside Junquet to score 10 points.
The excitement continued on Saturday when Middlebury rolled into town. The Bantams would be on the losing end this time; however, the game was not without its bright spots. First-year Peace Kabari ’20 shot 70% from the field in route to 21 points, and Trinity fought back from 13 points down at the start of the fourth quarter to tie the game up with 3:33 left. Despite the come-back, the Bantams would run out of gas, as Middlebury made several free-throws down the stretch to seal the game.
The Trinity women (12-10) close out their regular season on Feb. 14 against Anna Maria, while the Trinity men (15-9) travel to Wesleyan on Feb. 18 for the first round of the NESCAC tournament.