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Men's Basketball

Men's Basketball returns with three games in five days

 
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TRINITY INTERNATIONAL TROJANS (8-7, 2-5 CCAC) at ST. AMBROSE BEES (4-8, 2-4 CCAC)
Tuesday, January 5 | 7:30 p.m.
Lohman Arena | Davenport, Iowa
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TRINITY INTERNATIONAL TROJANS (8-7, 2-5 CCAC) vs. CARDINAL STRITCH WOLVES (7-7, 4-2 CCAC)
Thursday, January 7 | 7:30 p.m.
Van Dixhorn Arena | Deerfield, Ill.
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TRINITY INTERNATIONAL TROJANS (8-7, 2-5 CCAC) at TRINITY CHRISTIAN TROLLS (5-8, 0-6 CCAC)
Saturday, January 9 | 3:00 p.m.
Trinity Athletics & Recreation Center | Palos Heights, Ill.
Quick Notes

• Trinity International begins the second half of the season with a busy week, as the Trojans play three CCAC games in the next five days. TIU will take on conference newcomers St. Ambrose on Tuesday night, before returning to Van Dixhorn Arena on Thursday for a matchup with the Cardinal Stritch Wolves. On Saturday, TIU faces Trinity Christian on the road.
• All three games will be available on the TIU Sports Network, at TIUTrojans.com.
• The Trojans ended 2015 on a four-game slide, most recently falling at home to Purdue-North Central on Dec. 19.
• As a team, the Trojans rank 3rd in the NAIA with 10.8 steals per game, and are 7th nationally with 162 total steals through 15 games this year.
• Six players are currently averaging double figures for the Trojans, led by Cory Windle's 15.7 points per game. Grant Corsi (14.8 ppg), Jeremy Carlyle (13.3), Zach Kirschbaum (11.9), James Glass (11.0), and Thomas Amrine (10.4) are also in double figures at this point in the season.
• The Trojans have the second-highest scoring offense in the CCAC, averaging 86.1 points per game. Trinity's three opponents this week rank ninth or below in the conference, with Trinity Christian leading the pack at 75.0 points per game.
• Defensively, Trojans ranks 13th in the CCAC with 80.3 points allowed per game; Cardinal Stritch sits 2nd in the league, allowing 69.7 points per game, while St. Ambrose and Trinity Christian each average around 74 points to their opponents.
• St. Ambrose started the season with a 2-6 mark, but have won two of their last four games, and have claimed victory in each of their last two home games.
• Cardinal Stritch entered the Christmas break following an 81-65 neutral site loss to Saint Mary (Kan.), but have won three of their last four conference matchups.
• TCC ended a six-game losing streak on Dec. 29, with an overtime win over Marygrove (Mich.), but most recently fell on the road in conference play at Roosevelt on Saturday.

Series History
• Trinity and St. Ambrose have met just three times, most recently in 2005. The Bees hold a 3-0 mark over the Trojans, all in non-conference action.
• The Trojans have won just twice in 29 meetings with Cardinal Stritch since 2003-04. Both victories came at the end of the 2006-07 season, including once in the CCAC Tournament. Since then, the Wolves have claimed the last 19 matchups.
• Trinity Christian holds an 18-9 record over TIU since the 2003-04 season, and are on a three-game win streak over the Trojans. Trinity International's last victory came in 2013-14, with an overtime victory at home, 104-98.

Last Time Out vs. Cardinal Stritch
• Junior guard Josh Markum set a new career high with 15 points, including four three-pointers, but a couple of big runs from Cardinal Stritch led to a 85-64 decision in favor of the host and 19th-ranked Wolves on Feb. 4, 2015.
• The Wolves' lead would reach as high as 13 points in the first half, with a three-pointer with just over 90 seconds to play. Markum would respond with the second of his two first-half treys, but CSU would hold a 38-26 halftime advantage. Stritch opened the second half with a big 7-0 run over the first two minutes to put the game out of reach.

Last Time Out vs. Trinity Christian
• Three Trojans finished in double figures, highlighted by Thomas Amrine's 24 points, but a 9-0 run for Trinity Christian over the final 1:46 proved to be the difference, as Trinity International fell to the Trolls 80-77, on Feb. 7, 2015.
• With TIU ahead by six, 77-71 and with 1:46 on the clock, Trinity Christian would score the final nine points of the game, moving in front with a three-pointer with 20 seconds on the clock. The Trojans would get a pair of looks at the basket to potentially tie the game, but weren't able to get either shot to fall.

National Leaders
• Going into this week, the Trojans rank 23rd in the NAIA in scoring offense, averaging 86.1 points per game this season.
• A large part of the high-scoring offense comes from Trinity's three-point shooting prowess, as the Trojans rank 22nd in the NAIA with a total of 137 three-point field goals made. Trojans is averaging 9.1 three-pointers per game, the 23rd-best average in the nation.
• The Trojans have the 10th-best turnover margin in the NAIA, averaging 4.7 fewer turnovers than their opponents on the season.

Career Milestone
• Senior shooting guard Thomas Amrine has collected 825 career points during his Trojans career, just 175 shy of joining the 1,000-point club.
• Amrine would become the 19th player in Trinity International history to reach 1,000 points.
• Last season, Trinity had two of the 18 previous 1,000-point scorers on the same team, in center Nate Ball, and guard Dillon Wadsack.
• Ball finished his Trojans career 13th on the program's all-time scoring list, with 1,304 career points. Wadsack is 14th, with 1,170 points.

Trojans in the Polls
• Trinity International has appeared in the NAIA Division II Coaches Poll 21 times in program history, but not since the 1997-98 campaign.
• Trojans's last ranking came on Jan. 6, 1998, when the Trojans came in at No. 20.
• The highest ranking in program history was during the 1995-96 season, when Trinity was at No. 3 in the Jan. 22, 1996 poll. 

New Signing
• The Trinity International men's basketball program received a major boost in the 2016 recruiting class this week, as the Trojans announced the signing of Mark Smith, a 6-7 forward from Riverside-Brookfield High School (Riverside, Ill).
• Smith is a two-year starter for Riverside-Brookfield and Head Coach Tom McCloskey. The Bulldogs are currently ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press Illinois High School Rankings at the 4A level. Smith has his squad off to a great start this season, as the Bulldogs sit at 6-1, with the only blemish a shorthanded loss to Gonzaga College HS out of Washington, D.C., the 23rd-ranked team in the USA Today National Rankings.

Up Next
• The Trojans step out of conference play on Tuesday, Jan. 12, with a visit to NCAA-III foe Illinois Tech, followed with a weekend matchup with the Olivet Nazarene Tigers at Van Dixhorn Arena.

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Players Mentioned

Nate Ball

#34 Nate Ball

C
6' 7"
Senior
Josh Markum

#4 Josh Markum

G
6' 0"
Junior
Dillon Wadsack

#10 Dillon Wadsack

G
6' 1"
Senior
Thomas Amrine

#23 Thomas Amrine

G
6' 1"
Senior
James Glass

#22 James Glass

F
6' 7"
Senior
Jeremy Carlyle

#10 Jeremy Carlyle

G
5' 9"
Freshman
Grant Corsi

#32 Grant Corsi

G/F
6' 5"
Junior
Zach Kirschbaum

#33 Zach Kirschbaum

F
6' 10"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Nate Ball

#34 Nate Ball

6' 7"
Senior
C
Josh Markum

#4 Josh Markum

6' 0"
Junior
G
Dillon Wadsack

#10 Dillon Wadsack

6' 1"
Senior
G
Thomas Amrine

#23 Thomas Amrine

6' 1"
Senior
G
James Glass

#22 James Glass

6' 7"
Senior
F
Jeremy Carlyle

#10 Jeremy Carlyle

5' 9"
Freshman
G
Grant Corsi

#32 Grant Corsi

6' 5"
Junior
G/F
Zach Kirschbaum

#33 Zach Kirschbaum

6' 10"
Junior
F