Purchase, N.Y. - Junior Colin Donovan (Westborough, Mass.) had 17 points and four assists to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 79-59 win over the Morrisville State College Mustangs in the first round of the A.J. Buchanan Men's Basketball Tournament at Manhattanville College's Kennedy Gymnasium this evening. Trinity evens its season mark at 2-2 and will face the host Manhattanville College Valiants in the tourney finals tomorrow at 4 p.m. Morrisville State falls to 1-3 and will play in the consolation game against Wesley tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Trinity junior forward Donald Jorden (Tampa, Fla.) won the tap and scored the game's first bucket 20 seconds into the contest, and the Bantams maintained the lead for the whole game. Jorden scored again and then assisted senior tri-captain Kyle Padmore (Milton, Mass.) on a layup to give Trinity a 6-0 advantage less than two minutes into the game. Ismael Chisholm hit a jumper to cut the Mustang deficit to 21-20 at the 8:33 mark of the first half, but Bantam senior center Jadakis Brooks (Elmira, N.Y.) answered with a conventional three-point play. Jorden scored the final basket of the first half to give Trinity a 35-29 lead.
The Bantams pulled ahead by double digits at 53-43 midway through the seocnd stanza on a three-pointer by rookie guard Steven Lora (North Providence, R.I.). Trinity's largest lead was 28 points at 76-48 when senior guard Christian Porydzy (South Glastonbury, Conn.) scored on a fast-break layup wth four minutes on the clock.
Five Bantams finished in double figures in scoring, as Brooks (13), Padmore (11), Porydzy (11), and Jorden (10) joined Donovan with 10 or more. Trinity senior co-captain Nick Seretta (Greenfield, Mass.) grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Trinity forced 20 turnovers and took 73 shots to just 55 for the Mustangs. Morrisville State's Kevin Dennis led all scorers with 18 points. The Mustangs finished with a 42-to-34 edge on the glass.