Trinity Men's Basketbal Collects Sixth Straight Invitational Title

Game Leaders

Westfield State
Pts: Ryan White - 11
Reb: Matt Devine - 10
Ast: Lee Vazquez - 3
Trinity (Conn.)
Pts: Varun Ram - 24
Reb: TEAM - 9
Ast: Varun Ram - 4

Team Stats

Westfield State
Trinity (Conn.)

Field Goals

(11-53)
(21-54)

Field Goal %

20.8%
38.9%

Rebounds

43
37

Assists

6
14

Turnovers

19
16

Pts off Turnovers

14
20

2nd Chance Pts

12
2

Bench Pts

12
17
full stats
More news about: Trinity (Conn.)
Dec 30, 2011

Ram Leads Host Bantams Over Westfield State In Finals

Hartford, Conn. – Freshman guard Varun Ram (Clarkville, Md.) scored a game-high 24 points with four assists and three steals and the Trinity College Bantams held the visiting Westfield State College Owls to 4-for-31 field goal shooting in the second half to take a 63-42 victory in the Trinity College Men's Basketball Invitational this afternoon at Oosting Gymnasium. Trinity improves to 7-3, while the Owls drop to 8-5. Trinity has won six consecutive invitational tournament titles the last two seasons, earning the Golden Bears Hoop Classic crown at Western New England and the Harbor Invitational at Mass.-Boston in both 2010-11 and 2011-12, and capturing the Sig Makoski Invitational at Union last winter prior to this weekend. In the consolation game earlier today, Rivier defeated Elmira, 72-66.

Leading, 30-24, at intermission, Trinity outscored the Owls, 33-18, in the second half. The Bantams took a double-digit lead 39-28, after a layup by sophomore forward Eric Dean (Gilford, N.H.) seven minutes into the second frame, and led by at least 11 the rest of the way. The Bantams had used a 7-0 run midway through the first half to turn a 14-11 deficit into an 18-14 advantage at the 6:13 mark of the first half.

Trinity's defense forced 19 turnovers and held Westfield State to 20.8 percent field goal shooting for the game (11-53), and the Owls misfired on all six of their three-point attempts. The Bantams offset a 43-to-37 deficit on the boards and 16 of its own turnovers by draining 10 of 23 shots from beyond the arc. Dean finished with 12 points and three blocked shots, and joined Ram as Trinity's representatives on the all-tournament team. Junior forward Ryan White (Philadelphia, Pa.) led the Owls with 11 points and seven boards, and Westfield State all-tournament selection Matt Devine (Pembroke, Mass.) added 10 points, a game-high 10 boards, and five rejections. Rivier's Tom Poitras (Bow, N.H.) and Elmira's Chris Cassidy (Colts Neck, N.J.) were also named to the all-tournament squad.