Strong 1st half helps Trinity boys basketball hold on for win over Exeter

MANCHESTER - The Trinity High School boys basketball team played some of its best basketball in the first half Tuesday night against Exeter.

The second half ... well, let's just say it was a good thing it came after that first half.

The Pioneers went into halftime with a 19-point lead, having allowed just 10 points, but had to hang on late, the Blue Hawks clawed their way back into the game in the fourth quarter. Trinity was able to do just enough to escape with a 52-43 win, its sixth in a row, over Exeter in a Division I game.

Jordan Torres scored 22 points to lead the Pioneers (7-2) while Jamar Gregory-Alleyne added nine points and Xavier McBournie had all eight of his points, including two 3-pointers, in the first half.

Trinity had a 10-4 lead at the end of the first quarter and closed out the first half with a 14-2 run, holding Exeter scoreless for the final four-plus minutes, to take a 29-10 lead into the break.

“First half, amazing, second half, not so amazing, that’s the nicest way I could put it,” Trinity coach Ray Farmer said. “It’s kind of discouraging, but this all experimental until we get to the playoffs. This is good for us to know that we’ve got some things we have to work on.”

At the top of that list is how to handle an opponent's full-court pressure, as the Blue Hawks (5-4) were able to force 11 turnovers in the fourth quarter to climb back into the game.

“Apparently the best pressing team is the worst at breaking presses, so we’ve got to figure that one out,” Farmer said. “We’ll do better at that. It was good for us, you know, to have a humbling experience that we’ve got to work on breaking presses.

“Down the stretch, communication, things we talk about in practice all the time, bite us when it mattered.”

Exeter, which was coming off a three-point loss at Bedford last Friday, got 13 points from Huxley Brown and nine points from Jack Thibodeau. The Blue Hawks hit all four of their 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, when they cut a 17-point lead at the start down to as little as seven points in the final minute.

“We don’t have that much margin for error playing against a really good team like Trinity,” Exeter coach Jeff Holmes said. “We turned it over 12 times in the first half. We couldn’t make a basket. You can’t come to Trinity and score 10 points in the first half.

“I’m proud of my guys. We fought and clawed back and made a good little run there at the end. We just ran out of time.”

Trinity's lead was still 18 points after back-to-back baskets by Derrick Erilla and Torres made it 49-31 with just under three minutes to play.

Tyler Ream (six points) answered with a 3, and after Holmes called a timeout with 2:38 to go, the Blue Hawks forced a turnover, setting up another 3 by Jackson McDonald to make it 49-37.

Exeter got another turnover, but McDonald missed a 3 and after Brown grabbed the rebound, Torres took it away before the senior could get a shot up. Two more Trinity turnovers led to two free throws by Exeter's Agee Griffith (six) and a 3 by Brown to make it 49-42 with a minute remaining.

But the Blue Hawks were forced to start fouling after that and the Pioneers made enough free throws to hold on for the win.

“I thought the sense of urgency came out in that last two minutes,” Farmer said. “We just got a little bit too riled up and overwhelmed, and we didn’t box out. Those things we’ll work on and I’m glad it happened. We’re still able to close out and get an ugly win, so I’ll take it.”