Slow start dooms Men's Basketball at Texas Lutheran

SEGUIN, Texas – The University of Dallas men's basketball team (12-7, 3-6 SCAC) dropped an 80-74 contest on Saturday evening at Texas Lutheran University (12-8, 7-2 SCAC). The result evens the season series 1-1, with both squads prevailing on its home courts.

Dallas ends a two-game winning streak, while TLU bounces back with a pair of victories to tie Centenary College, who plays Sunday, in a tie atop of the conference standings.

After the teams tabbed four points in the opening two minutes, the Bulldogs rattled off eight unanswered points before senior Kym Malone (Richardson, Texas) made a free throw with 13:27 remaining in the first frame.

UD experienced a lengthy field goal scoring drought, with about nine minutes passing before sophomore Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) completed a layup just under the midway point until intermission.

By that juncture, the Navy and White were already down double-digits which would be the case throughout the beginning stanza. Dallas trailed by as many as 19 with 2:58. At halftime, the Black and Gold were ahead 44-27.

In the second half, Dallas mustered a 21-8 run throughout a 10 minute span to crawl within four points of the home squad. After a few more possessions, sophomore Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) brought the deficit to a pair, 55-53, on a layup.

The Bulldogs responded with five-straight and pushed the edge back to nine after a 9-2 burst. 6:24 minutes remained in regulation at that moment, and despite UD's efforts, the home team managed the momentum the remainder of the stretch.

A layup by sophomore Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) nipped things at 75-71 with 25 seconds, but TLU sealed things on the next possession with a pair of baskets from the free throw line.

For the second week in a row, Malone paced Dallas by matching a season-best 19 points against the Bulldogs, which the senior point guard accomplished in the meeting in Irving, Texas. Kaiser provided solid numbers off the bench for UD with 12 points and a team-leading nine rebounds. Senior Mark Promberger (Phoenix, Ariz.) chipped in 11 points and seven boards. Fellow classmate Aaron Wyatt (Frisco, Texas) added nine.

For TLU, Sterling Holmes poured a game-high 23 points on a 9-of-14 performance shooting from the field. Also reaching the 20-point mark was Jordan Kouremetis exactly at it and Thomas Verm rounded out the trio of double figure scorers with 13.

Donte McGee tied a game-high nine rebounds with the Crusaders' Kaiser and chipped in seven points.

The teams were even on the boards, pulling 37 apiece off the glass. UD won the turnover battle forcing 15 while having committed 10. The Bulldogs utilized their size in the paint with 42 points coming from that location. Dallas did notch 32 in the post as well.

STAT OF THE GAME

The Crusaders shot a 23.5-percent shooting clip from the floor in the first half, while improving to 56.2-percent in the latter frame.

NEXT OPPONENTS

Dallas is back at the Maher Athletic Center on Feb. 6-7 for two SCAC matchups with Centenary and Colorado College, respectively. Both contests are slated for 8 p.m.