Roger Trimmell won his 300th game as McPherson College head coach Monday.
Trimmell hits milestone
Roger Trimmell won his 300th game as McPherson College head coach Monday. |
By STEVE SELL, Sentinel Sports Editor
Roger Trimmell's 300th career victory as McPherson College men's coach was among the most difficult in his 21 years at the helm.
The Bulldogs had to weather a tremendous upset bid by crosstown rival Central Christian College Monday night at the Sport Center, surviving 68-65 when Tony Romero's potential game-tying 3-point shot just rimmed off at the buzzer for the Tigers.
"That was a great game," said Trimmell, whose team survived before a near-capacity crowd. "Give Central credit. They played very hard and gave us everything they had. But our guys made the plays when they had to."
The Bulldogs improved to 13-5 on the year, while the snake-bit Tigers fell to 2-14 and this one was the toughest yet to take for CCC coach Justin Gillette and his team, which lost to the Bulldogs earlier this year in overtime.
"To keep working so hard and giving a great effort, only to come up short, it's just really tough for our guys, especially the three seniors," said Gillette, whose team battled back from a 41-34 halftime deficit to take a 58-57 lead with five minutes to go.
Central stayed in a zone for almost the whole game, trying to stop Mac's All-American candidate Kenny Romero, who was held to 4 points in the first half.
"Our whole thing was to not let Romero beat us," Gillette said. "But late in the game, he did."
Romero was huge down the stretch, but no shot was bigger than with two minutes to go when he made an impossible scoop shot to make it 66-62 in favor of the Bulldogs. Tony Romero, no relation, answered with a trey for Central to make it 66-65 and but Mac's version of Romero came back with a pair of free throws with 8 seconds to go after he had come up with an offensive rebound off a missed shot.
The Tigers set up a final tying play, but Tony Romero's trey was off.
"Tony's the guy we wanted to shoot. I wouldn't have wanted anybody else," Gillette said. "He had a good look."
"We knew Romero was going to shoot," Trimmell said. "We thought about fouling, but Glenn (assistant coach Gayer) and the team talked me out of it. They unanimously voted to play good defense."
Mac basically led at the half on the strength of Brian Hooks, who scored 20 points of his 23 points in the first stanza. Romero finished with 17. "Brian was just incredible in the first half. He carried us," Trimmell said.
For Central, Jeremiah Wright had 16 of his 22 points in the second hald and also pulled down 11 rebounds, as the Bulldogs simply didn't have an answer for him. Romero scored 18 and Melvin Sanders, who had 10 straight CCC points during one stretch in the first half, closed with 16.
Trimmell seemed to downplay his 300 milestone and just laughed when asked if he would reach 400.
"I've had the good fortune of having great assistants like Glenn and Dave Barrett, and also our student assistants," Trimmell said. "And I've been blessed to have worked with so many young outstanding young men down through the years."
Mac returns to KCAC action Thursday hosting Southwestern, while Central has no rest, playing tonight at Newman.
Mac (68) -- Rierson 2 0-0 5; McDonald 2 0-1 6; Carter 3 0-0 9; Hooks 7 7-10 23; Soto 1 0-0 3; K. Romero 6 3-4 17; Gustafson 2 1-2 5. Totals -- 23 11-17 68. 3-pointers -- Carter 3, McDonald 2, Hooks 2, Romero 2, Rierson 1, Soto 1.
CCC (65) -- T. Romero 6 2-4 18; Sanders 8 0-0 16; Rogers 1 0-0 3; Wright 9 4-5 22; Jackson 3 0-0 6. Totals -- 27 6-9 65. 3-pointers -- T. Romero 4, Rogers 1.