A halftime deficit that grew early in the second went away quickly, and TBC Eagles Men's Basketball came from behind on Friday to defeat the Pioneers of NAIA Crowley's Ridge College 82-73. The Eagles fell behind by 11 early in the second half before outscoring their opponent 44-24 the rest of the way thanks to excellent shooting from all ranges.

Trailing 47-38 at the start of the second half, the Eagles saw their deficit increase to 49-38 just 49 seconds in. Jacquez Anderson, Xavier Rose, and Oramis Figuereo combined for 9 consecutive points to pull the Eagles to within 2 at 49-47. After CRC scored again, Diego Fernandez and DJ Thompson each hit two free throws to tie the score at 51-all with 14:37 left to play.

The teams traded baskets and leads for the next three minutes until Brandon Hill put TBC ahead 57-56; Rose then hit two straight shots to give Trinity a 61-56 lead at the 10:46 mark, and that lead would not go away.

Trinity gradually increased the lead to 7 on Gavin Korth-Loder's three pointer just past the midway point of the second half. Jerrodney Tubbs hit a shot for Crowley's Ridge to make it a 5-point lead for TBC, but the Pioneers would not get any closer.

From that point, Jace Spinelli added a three-point play and two free throws, and Korth-Loder hit another three-pointer for an 11-point lead at 73-62 with 5:23 remaining. The two teams played evenly the rest of the way, and Rose's free throw with 31 seconds left was the final tally.

Rose and Figuereo each finished with 15 points, tied for second overall in the game. Fernandez totaled 11, and Spinelli had 10. Six Eagles combined to hit 9 three-point shots, and the team shot 44.6% overall from the field.

Thompson totaled 9 points while Korth-Loder scored 6 and Hill, Zach Kiadii and Ian Kanady each contributed 2.

Braxton Cousins (19) and Jaylen Bozeman (11) led the Pioneers in scoring, and Gavin Hill followed with 9. The Pioneers pulled in 51 rebounds, but the TBC defense forced 22 turnovers, including 8 shots blocked.

The Eagles will next play an exhibition game at NCAA Division 1 Stetson University in Deland at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 6. The game will stream live on Stetson's ESPN channel.

The next home game is against NCCAA Division 1 Clinton College at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 13. Two more D-1 exhibitions follow at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach on November 15 and NCAA Division 2 Valdosta State University at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 18.