Hartford, Conn. - Junior Jeremy Arthur (Westbury, N.Y.) had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead the Trinity College Bantams to an 80-50 win over the visiting St. Joseph's College Bears in the opening round of the Trinity Holiday Men's Basketball Classic at Oosting Gymnasium this evening.  Trinity improves to 7-2 with its third victory in a row, while the Bears drop to 5-6 with their first loss in three games.  The Bantams, playing their first game since December 7, will face either Regis College or Westfield State University in the championship game tomorrow at 2 p.m., while the Bears will face the loser of tonight's game between Regis and Westfield.

Sophomore guard Christian Porydzy (Glastonbury, Conn.) hit the second of three treys 4:15 into the game to give Trinity a 10-7 lead, and the Bantams led the rest of the way.  A three-pointer by rookie guard Colin Donovan (Westborough, Mass.) gave Trinity its first double-digit lead at 22-12 with 11 minutes remaining in the first half, and the Bantams led, 43-27, at the half on a last-second put-back by junior forward Connor Merinder (Andover, Mass.).  Trinity held the Bears to just 33.3 percent field-goal shooting in the first half, and sophomore Kyle Padmore (Milton, Mass.) paced Trinity with eight first-half points.  Sophomore forward Kavan Meiner (Staten Island, N.Y.) had a team-high eight points at the break for St. Joseph's.

Trinity scored the first six points of the second half on a jumper by senior co-captain Eric Gendron (Merrimack, N.H.), a put-back by Arthur, and another Porydzy long ball, and led by as many as 34 points in the second half.  The Bantam defense was even stingier after halftime, holding the Bears to eight field goals in 26 attempts (30.8%) and misses on all nine of their three-point tries.  Trinity made eight three-pointers in 20 attempts (40%) and was 12-for-15 from the foul line, while the Bears made just 13 free throws in 21 attempts.  Bantam sophomores Jadikas Brooks (Elmira, N.Y.) and Nick Seretta (Greenfield, Mass.) both came off the bench to score 11 points, while Padmore dished a game-high six assists and made three steals.  Sophomore guard Dmitri Sirakis (Hollis, N.Y.) was the top St. Joseph's scorer with nine points, while classmate Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y.) grabbed a game-high 10 boards for the Bears.