Men’s Basketball Falters in Semi-finals   (2/28/08)
The Trolls’ hot hand from earlier this week went cold in a conference semi-final game against Cardinal Stritch University. The No. 2 Trolls (19-12) lost 52-65 to No. 3 Cardinal Stritch (19-13), thus ending their quest for a conference tournament championship.
 
In the first half neither team could find the bucket as the score was still 13-6 in favor of the Trolls at the midway point. Cardinal Stritch then went on an 8-0 run to take a one-point lead. From there the score was tied five times before the half which ended in 25-24 Trinity advantage.
 
Two minutes into the second period the team tried to rally behind a bucket that gave Kurt Gruppen his 1,000 career point. However the momentum shifted the other way and over the next seven minutes the Troll fell behind by 11 points.
 
Behind two treys by Will Bruinsma with 3:41 to play Trinity pulled to within five points. That was a close as they got as Stritch moved to a 10-point advantage again and finished out at the line to make the final a 13 point game. .
 
The team struggled from the floor, shooting only 35.3%, and from the line at 61.1%. They were also beat on the boards with 32 rebounds to Stritch’s 48. Ebiowei Porbeni led the team with a double double of 14 points and 14 rebounds. Ross Stuursma added 10 points to the totals.
 
The Trolls will participate in the NCCAA Region Tournament to be played on March 7-8. The details of that tournament are yet to be determined.

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