2006 SCAC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
QUARTERFINAL ROUND

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Trinity University ran into a buzzsaw Friday night. Playing in front of packed Mallory Gymnasium, the "visitors" from Rhodes College took advantage of its familiar surroundings and upset the top-seeded Tigers 87-83 in the quarterfinal round of the 2006 SCAC Men's Basketball Tournament.

It is the first time in the four-year history of the tournament that a No. 8 seed has beaten the No. 1 seed. It is also Trinity's first-ever loss in SCAC tournament play, having gone 9-0 in the previous three seasons.

Led by seniors Matthew Jakes and Rami Almefty, Rhodes fought back from a 48-40 halftime deficit to move on to Saturday's semifinal round for the first time in program history.

Trinity (20-6), which was ranked second in the South Region entering the tournament, will now have to wait and hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Jakes finished with a game-high 23 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field and 9 of 10 from the free throw line and Almefty followed with 21 points and seven assists. Almefty nailed 4 of 6 from three-point range. With his 21 points, the senior guard surpassed Ryan Harrigan of Sewanee (1995-98) on the SCAC's all-time scoring list and now is second with 1,681 career points. Sophomore forward Justin Long had a team-high eight rebounds.

The three-point arc played a huge role in the game. Trinity shot a blistering 53.3% (8-15) from bonus range in the first half but managed just 14.3% in the second half (2-14). Rhodes, meanwhile, hit 47.1% (8-17) from distance for the game.

Holding a one-point lead, Jakes hit two free throws to give the Lynx the 86-83 lead with 31 seconds remaining. Andy Bates of Trinity missed a three-point attempt to tie and the Tigers were forced to foul after Rhodes rebounded the miss.

Almefty hit 1 of 2 from the line with 17 seconds remaining to ice the win for Rhodes, which improves to 14-12 with the victory. The Lynx will play the winner of DePauw and Rose-Hulman in tomorrow's second men's semifinal game at 3 p.m. CT at Rhodes.

Trinity was led by senior forward Jay Riola, who finished with a team-high 22 points on 10 of 15 shooting and also grabbed a game and season high 14 rebounds. Senior guard Ross Burt chipped in with 16 points and eight rebounds.