Senior Diego Fernandez started the day with 995 official career points, and he ended it with 1,007 after scoring 12 in the TCJ Men's Basketball season opener against Southwestern Adventist University. The game was part of a two-day women's/men's showcase of NCCAA Division 2 teams hosted by Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Florida. SWAU won the game 81-78.

Fernandez surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his college career on a jump shot with 9:48 left in the first half. The basket was his third of the game and gave the Eagles 24-20 lead and himself career points 1,000 and 1,001. He got his first two points on a layup at the 12:37 mark and his next two with another layup with 11:08 remaining to bring his career total to 999.

[Diego Fernandez surpasses 1,000 career points in the season opener vs. Southwestern Adventist.]

Fernandez finished the game with 12 points off 5 field goals, one a three, and a foul shot. 

[Senior Diego Fernandez has 1,007 career points for the Eagles.]

Also scoring in double figures were DJ Thompson with 17, Brandon Hill with 14, and Maximus Fuentes with 10. Hill scored the Eagles' first points of the season with a layup, and Thompson got his first points at the line. Thompson was 7 for 9 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line. Hill shot 50% from the field and converted 6 of 7 free throws while Fuentes, a junior, got his first TCJ points on a layup less than four minutes into the game as part of a four-basket, 2-free throw performance. 

The Eagles never trailed in the first half, and after Fernandez's milestone basket, the Eagles finished the first half outscoring SWAU 26-13 to build a 17-point halftime lead at 50-33. 

Beginning three minutes into second half, Southwestern Adventist slowly decreased their deficit until taking the lead at 57-55 with 12:47 remaining after a 24-5 run. The Eagles fell behind by 6 then got back to within 1 with a free throw from Hill. They regained the lead at 65-64 on Hill's layup. After Trinity built the lead to 76-68 with 4:10 reamaining, SWAU came back with a three-pointer, two free throws, and a layup from Ruben Doria to get to within 1. A jump shot then gave SWAU the lead, and the teams stayed within three points of each other for the final two minutes. A three-point attempt by TCJ to tie the score just before the buzzer fell short. 

Junior Tayden Owens scored 8 points in his TCJ debut, and freshman Sherrard Adams scored 6 in his first college game. Jayden Little (5), Alex Dawson (4), and Shadrack Kakora (2) also contrinuted points for TCJ. 

Ruben totaled 27 points for SWAU, and teammates AJ Aviles (16), Ayden McCowan (15), and Andre Guajardo Mancilla (10) all hit double figures. 

The Eagles will play Champion Christian College at 4:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The first home game is at 8:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 6, when Trinity hosts NAIA Florida National University. The first South Region contest pits TCJ against newcomer Baptist University of Florida at 5:00 p.m. on Veterans' Day, November 11.