Hartford, Conn. – Sophomore forward Eric Dean (Gilford, N.H.) scored a game-high 14 points and added four rebounds and four steals and junior swingman Mick DiStasio (Cheverus, Maine) added 11 points, five assists, and four steals to lead the Trinity College Bantams to an 84-46 victory over the visiting Elmira College Soaring Eagles in the opening round of the Trinity College Men's Basketball Invitational this evening at Oosting Gymnasium. The Bantams, which improve to 6-3, will face the Westfield State College Owls, which downed Rivier, 80-64, in the other first round game tonight, tomorrow in the tourney finals at 4 p.m. Elmira, drops to 0-9 and will play Rivier in the tournament consolation game tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Trinity scored the first nine points of the game and the Bantam defense allowed the Soaring Eagles to get off just one shot until nearly four minutes had gone by. Trinity led, 21-3, at the 13:13 mark after a put-back by junior forward Adam Skaggs (Framingham, Mass.) and took its biggest lead of the first half at 32-6 with 9:38 left before intermission on a short jumper by Dean. The Bantams did not let up in the second half, quickly turning a 44-23 halftime lead into 59-27 lead on a layup by rookie center Georges Papadeas (Athens, Greece) six minutes in. Trinity led by at least 28 points the rest of the way.

Trinity more than doubled Elmira's shot attempts with 71 field goal tries against 28 for the Soaring Eagles, as the Bantams forced 25 turnovers and sent Elmira to the foul line 34 times. Elmira failed to take advantage from the charity stripe, missing 14 of its free throws, while Trinity took care of the ball offensively with just eight turnovers and dominated the glass with a 40-25 rebounding edge. Trinity freshman guard Carter Trent (Little Rock, Ark.) scored all 10 of his points in the first half and added four assists, while senior captain center Chris Applegate (High Point, N.C.) grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, and sophomore guard Leonard Chenfeld (New York, N.Y.) added eight points and five assists off the bench. Sophomore guard Josh Keys (Bel Air, Md.) was the lone Soaring Eagle in double digits in scoring with 10 points, while rookie forward Brian McDonald (Frederick, Md.) added six boards for Elmira.