Stout defense helps Men's Basketball prevail on Saturday
IRVING, Texas – Defense and free throw shooting helped uphold a nice shooting effort in an exciting victory, 73-68 for the University of Dallas men's basketball team (11-6, 2-5 SCAC) over Texas Lutheran University (10-8, 5-2 SCAC) on Saturday evening.
The thrilling triumph snapped a season-long, three-game slide and lifted UD over the first place team in the conference entering the affair.
Down the stretch, Texas Lutheran erased an 11-point halftime deficit and eventually pulled within a point, 69-68 with 1:35 remaining in the contest. The road squad was on an 11-3 run during the previous four minute span.
The Crusaders withstood the momentum and shifted things back after senior Kym Malone (Richardson, Texas) secured an offensive rebound after his missed shot to draw a foul. The team's leading scorer on the night with 19 points drained both to make TLU have to tie with a trey.
After a UD timeout with just under a minute, the Crusaders tipped the balance towards them with a big steal from sophomore Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas). The team's top scorer on the year posted nine points, but his clutch play made things a two possession game after making one-of-two free throws.
UD's final seven buckets of the night occurred from the charity stripe.
It was another quick start out of the gate for Dallas, with the first five points being tallied for the Navy and White on the first pair of possessions. The Bulldogs immediately countered with five-straight to knot things up.
Over the next several minutes, the Crusaders mustered a 13-2 run that included an 11-0 spurt to make things a double-digit advantage at the 13:03 mark. The home team's largest lead of the game was 16 and would be notched with 6:38 to go until intermission.
With the score 30-14, TLU battled back the final six and a half minutes to nip the margin to 11 at the break, 37-26.
Dallas shot an impressive 52.4-percent from the field and 50.0-percent from the behind the three-point line in the first frame.
The Black and Gold would not go away quietly in the second, outscoring the Crusaders 42-36.
Joining Malone in double figures with 16 points was Aaron Wyatt (Frisco, Texas). The senior tandem combined for a 17-of-22 free throw shooting performance. UD etched a 70.3 clip from the line in the contest. Wyatt added nine rebounds, one shy of a double-double, and classmate Mark Promberger (Phoenix, Ariz.) with seven.
Both team's received solid contributions from the benches, with the Bulldogs slightly outdoing Dallas 26-23. Leading the reserves was freshman Emmanuel Calton (Keller, Texas) with a career-best eight points. Sophomore Victor Garate (Austin, Texas) chipped in six on a pair of timely trifectas.
A trio of players eclipsed double figures for Texas Lutheran, led by Donte McGee with 15 points. Sterling Holmes and Garrett Wilkins added 10 apiece. McGee matched a game-high nine boards.
UD posted a 39-35 rebounding advantage. The Black and Gold forced 19 turnovers and scored 21 points off miscues from the home squad.
STAT OF THE GAME
Both teams produced 27 fouls in the contest. The Crusaders took 37 trips to the line, while TLU garnered 27 attempts. UD did hold a 70.3-percent to 50.3-percent edge in the made category.
UP NEXT
Dallas remains in SCAC action next weekend as the halfway point of league competition is completed. Trips to Southwestern University and Texas Lutheran are slated for Jan. 30 and 31 with 8 p.m. and 6 p.m., tip-offs, respectively.