Men's Basketball handles Knights in Home-Opener to move Streak to Seven
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's basketball team (7-0) kept its unbeaten streak alive Wednesday night, topping Southwestern Adventist University (4-8) by an 85-62 final.
Dallas has won seven-straight, the most consecutively since its six-game winning streak in the 2012-13 campaign. Another historic streak remains intact for the navy and white, as the team's second-best start since the 1983 continues to push the 2000-01 season 12-0 mark.
The Crusaders posted a team-best 85 points, and notched their largest margin of victory on the year thus far in Wednesday's home-opener.
Despite an early deficit 4-0 in the opening minute and a half, senior Blaine Blackburn's (Midlothian, Texas) three-pointer would get UD on the board, and on the next possession another trifecta by sophomore Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) lifted the squad in front the rest of the affair. Dallas would score the next 15 unanswered points before SWAU's Jacolby Hardin-Crawford ended the run on a layup to end the team's four-minute drought.
With just over nine minutes in the first half, the navy and white pushed its largest lead at the time to 18, but the Knights would cut at the deficit and be within as many as 10 after a 10-2 stretch. Dallas would close the frame strong though and lead 45-28 at intermission.
The second stanza featured more of the same strong shooting from the Crusaders, who totaled a 49.3 percentage from the field, as they extended the advantage to their largest of the night at 38 with 6:20 to go.
A trio of players broke double figures in scoring led by Sarrat and Blackburn with 17 and 13 points, respectively. The duo combined to shoot 7-of-13 from behind the arc. Sophomore Victor Garate (Austin, Texas) claimed a season-best to round out the unit with 11.
Dallas hit just under 50 percent from the field, but did clinch that mark going 12-for-24 in three-point land. The team also posted a 55.2 clip on the floor and a 61.5 three-point percentage in the first half.
UD out-rebounded its opposition 36-27 and scored 24 points off turnovers, as the home squad held an edge in that category 27-8.
20 players saw action for the navy and white on the court in the route, and the bench produced 38 points.
Next Opponent:
Dallas is back on the road this Saturday, December 6 at Millsaps College for a 3 p.m. tip-off. After that the team doesn't play an official contest the rest of the month until December 30.