Tayden Owens scored the go-ahead basket that became the game winner as TCJ Eagles Men's Basketball won a thriller with a powerful Conquistadors roster from NAIA Florida National University. Owens sank a layup with 1:09 left to play, and depsite a free throw from the Conquistadors with 41 seconds left, the Eagles fought off FNU's last-second effort to win by 1 at 74-73.

With the score tied at 72, Owens began his move just past mid-court at 1:13. He raced through three defenders to the left of the lane to get inside the paint. He then made the underhanded layup with 1:09 remaining to give TCJ the lead at 74-72. FNU's Houston Culpepper drew a foul with 41 second left to give himself a chane to tie the score. He hit 1 of the 2 shots to pull the Conquistadors to within 1. A Trinity turnover gave FNU one last chance with 15 seconds. 

Trinity's defense, though, held the attack outside the paint and forced a fade-away buzzer-beating attempt; the shot was too strong, and the Eagles held on for the win.

Trinity led from the first basket from DJ Thompson three minutes into the game. The Eagles steadily built the lead up to 20-3 with 9:12 remaining in the first half thanks to scores from Maximus Fuentes, Diego Fernandez, Brandon Hill, and Owens. The only FNU scores during that run came on a free throw and a jump shot. TCJ maintained a lead of at least 9 points until Florida National started a 21-10 run in the final six minutes of the half. Trinity led 32-26 at the break. 

The Eagles rebuilt the lead to 10 at two different spots in the secoind half, but Florida National held strong and did not fall further behind. They made moves that pulled themselves to within three at several points and eventually 1 at 59-58 when Ronald Fernandez laid one in. From that point, the margin stayed 3 or less and soon hit 0 at 65-65 and 67-all.

Fernandez's three-pointer with 4:55 left gave Trinity the lead at 70-67, but FNU got two straight scores from Culpepper (jump shot) and Hasmir Francois (dunk) to get their first and only lead at 71-70. 

Funtes hit a jump shot to regain the lead for TCJ, and Helquis Pulido's free throw tied the score at 72 before Owens made his move. 

Fernandez led all scorers with 24 points, shooting 50% from the field with a pair of threes. He was also 6 for 6 at the line, where the Eagles as a whole shot expectionally well: 16 for 20 (80%). Fuentes finished with 15 (4 for 4 at the line), and Sherrard Adams had a trio of threes and 2 foul shots for the bulk of his 13 points. Brandon Hill scored 8 while Thompson and Owens each had 6 and Jayden Little contributed 2 crucial second-half points at the line. The Eagles outshot Florida National, who scored 100 points in their previous official game, 48% to 38%.

FNU got 14 points each from Culpepper, Franscios, and Hernandez; seven more Conquistadors scored between 2 and 8 points.

The Eagles will host NCCAA Division 2 newcomer Baptist University of Florida in a JV/Varsity double-header beginning at 2:00 p.m on Tuesday, November 11. TCJ then hosts Florida Gateway College on Saturday, November 15. A trip to Beacon College follows on November 17 before Trinity plays an NCAA Division 2 exhibition with St. Augustine's Flagler College on November 20.