Men's Basketball hustles by Dallas Christian on Wednesday
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas – The University of Dallas men's basketball team (3-4) won consecutive contests for the first time this season thanks to hot shooting that included dominating the paint in a 95-78 road victory at Dallas Christian College on Wednesday. Holding a 41-33 lead at intermission, the visiting Crusaders rallied midway through the final stanza and eventually totaled a 54-45 scoring difference to earn another non-conference triumph.
NOTABLES
- Four UD starters eclipsed double-digits in scoring led by Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) with 19. It is his highest amount since 21 in the season opener at Hendrix College.
- Continuing the quartet of highest scorers respectively were: Darrius Colvin (Waco, Texas) with 18, Prince Giadolor (Rockwall, Texas) with 14, and Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) with 12.
- Colvin earned his 2nd double-double of the campaign and 2nd in past three games by matching a season-high 11 rebounds. Sarrat added six for second on the team. Rory MacCallum (Boulder, Colo.) chipped in off the bench five boards to go with six points.
- Gonzalez dished a season-most eight assists and Giadolor added six. The reigning conference player of the week had same total assists in back-to-back games to maintain team-lead overall (32).
- Dallas shot 50 percent (34-68) from the floor. This is 3rd time to eclipse that percentile and UD is 2-1 in such games. The Crusaders also shot 45 percent from three and 68.2 percent at free throw line. Sarrat was a perfect 7-for-7 and made a season-high at the stripe.
- Rebounding edge went to UD 44-33, as did 2nd chance points 12-7.
- Dallas boasted a 48-24 advantage for points in the paint.
- Fastbreak points favored Dallas Christian 19-12 as both teams hustled tonight.
- Turnovers were nearly identical as UD committed one fewer (15-14), but the points off turnovers went to UD 20-11.
- DCC shot 41.3 percent from the floor and 32.3 percent from three.
- Trey Lindsey scored 25 points, went 10-for-16 shooting field goals, and nabbed seven rebounds. Hunter Bennett and Daytin Howard contributed 16 points apiece.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams got off to quick starts as Dallas put in the first points on a Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) layup 20 seconds into the game. This was after the home Crusaders turned the ball over 10 seconds prior after earning possession from an out-of-bounds jump ball. DCC's Lindsey responded with a three-pointer to give his squad its first lead and added a layup as both teams pushed the tempo in the first minute. Gonzalez knotted the score at five-all on a trifecta with 18:15 left.
Neither side broke that tie until UD's Colvin converted a pair of free throws a little over a minute later and then sank his first-of-two treys that night to respond to Dallas Christian's made field goal. A 6-0 run by the road Crusaders was the longest unanswered scoring stretch of the night at that juncture and opened a 16-9 lead after Jacob DelAngel rattled down a three at 14:39. An answer by Jonathan DeVaughn beyond the three-point arc nipped the score to four (16-12).
From the start of 14 minutes left prior to half, a Giadolor layup was the final field goal on either team until his teammate Gonzalez dialed a three with 11:13 and brought score to 23-14. Each squad exchanged a pair of made free throws within that span.
The road Crusaders were able to maintain a near double-digit advantage the remainder of the frame. With about five minutes left, Keldon Williams nailed a triple field goal and Lindsey carried his own defensive rebound back for a successful layup that narrowed DCC's deficit to six (37-31). Neither team scored during the next four minutes at all until Victor Garate (Austin, Texas) gained two made free throws in the last 45 seconds. Howard got fouled right under 30 ticks left and made his two charity stripe shots. Xavier Cannon (Humble, Texas) ended the half with a jumper that led to the buzzer signaling the end of the stanza.
Colvin was already near his second double-double of the year with nine points and eight rebounds in the first. The sophomore was found for a wide open dunk by Giadolor's pass that sparked Dallas into its highest scoring half of the campaign. Three-of-four halves in the last two games have witnessed UD score above 50 points. Sarrat added 13 points (thanks to 6-for-6 shooting in free throws) and Giadolor went big for 11 points and four dimes to help engineer the strong play in the frame.
The trio of players recently mentioned combined to score the first 11 points of the second half by Dallas. DCC's Jaylen Edwards drained his only three-pointer of the game and clipped the score to 47-41. Colvin countered back with a three of his own with 17:31 and sparked a 9-0 run during the next minute and a half. Giadolor followed with a jumper that ended the original opening stretch of 11 points and then Kaiser's layup assisted by Giadolor prompted an opposition timeout. Edwards received a technical foul during this break and Sarrat put down the additional two free throws to cap the scoring streak to open a 56-41 edge.
Lindsey and Howard had the next two field goals to narrow the score at 11, but Kaiser's layup with right above 15 minutes pushed the edge back and the visiting Crusaders never allowed the margin to shrink beneath that. The largest lead of the game for the Navy and White was 20 points (89-69) with 3:31. Gonzalez had a hard fought put-back in that sequence and then hit a layup on the next UD possession to match the largest lead the second time of the game.
UP NEXT
Dallas opens Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play at Colorado College Dec. 16 around 8:30 p.m. (MST) 7:30 p.m. (CST). The Crusaders play their final road contest of 2016 and open a season-long home stand after with five straight games.