The Trinity Bible College men’s basketball team was defeated in the championship game against #1 seed North Central University 97-87 on Saturday.

North Central came out of the gates shooting extremely well. The Rams hit three out of their first four three’s to start the game which really dug the Lions into a hole. But the Lions were able to rally and tie the game at 17 with 13:24 remaining in the first half. Unfortunately, North Central would take control of the first half from there and take a 13 point lead into halftime with a 49-36 advantage.

The second half would see North Central build a 21 point lead midway through but the Lions would have one last charge in them for the season. Trinity would use a 9-2 run at the 6:30 mark left in the game to cut the lead to 12, and eventually get as close as eight points with 32 seconds remaining on a three pointer from Shean Bosworth. But that is as close as the Lions would get, as the Lions would lose in the Championship game for the second consecutive year to North Central 97-87.

Shean Bosworth led four Lions in double-figures with 28 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. For the tournament, Bosworth averaged 29.5 points and 11.5 rebounds. Terrance Sevion scored 24 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. Sevion shot 9-12 from the field in the game. Both Bosworth and Sevion handed out 4 assists in the game. Mikey Rosario also scored in double-figures adding 19 points to the cause. Rosario shot 3-6 from down-town. Jimmy McKinzie rounded out the double-figures scoring with 14 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. He also collected 4 steals in his final game as a Trinity Lion.

“It’s a disappointing end to our season. We just didn’t wake up until there was about 10 minutes left in the game but by then it was too late. North Central came out and controlled the tempo and hit some shots early and often that really deflated us. Once we lost our confidence, it snowballed from there. I think the game versus Faith the previous night really took a lot out of us physically and mentally. We just couldn’t get the intensity where we needed it to be until it was too late.”

The Lions finish the season with an overall record of 12-19. The Lions had a season of second places as they would place second in the NIAC Conference Tournament and second in the North Central Regional Tournament. Hopefully next season, it will be a season of firsts!