Crusaders endure Carroll's 2nd Half Surge for Samples' 90th Win
IRVING, Texas – After building a comfortable 19-point lead in the opening half on Thursday night, the University of Dallas men's basketball team (4-5) withstood a huge run in the last 20 minutes to pull out a 72-67 victory over Carroll University (6-4).
The Crusaders were outscored 42-28 in the second stanza, and lost the advantage twice and trailed for the first time all game with just under three minutes to play. However, the home squad mustered eight of the final nine points with 1:45 ticks on the clock to give head coach Jarred Samples his 90th career win at UD.
STAT NOTABLES
- Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) garnered his first double-double of the season with 14 points (matched season-high) and 11 rebounds (1st time eclipsing double figures).
- Kaiser also tied a career-best four blocks and helped the team display a team-high six. His other career performance occurred last season against Curry College (Nov. 27).
- Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) paced the team with 16 points. It was his sixth contest this year to reach double-digits, as the senior went 5-for-8 from the field. He was also 4-of-5 shooting at the charity stripe, which included a pair that re-tied the score and sparked UD's 8-1 run.
- Prince Giadolor (Rockwall, Texas) hit the go-ahead jumper in that game-changing surge that rounded out his 13 points. Giadolor now has scored double-digits in his last four games and last five-of-six.
- Giadolor posted six assists (team-high) and achieved the mark for the third time this year. It is one dime shy of career-high in season opener at Hendrix College. Giadolor also swiped three steals.
- Dallas held a 16-12 edge in assists. Behind Giadolor was Darrius Colvin (Waco, Texas) sharing the ball five times (tied season-high) and Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) with four.
- UD won the battle on the boards slightly, 33-31. Colvin followed Kaiser's season-high with seven of his own.
- The Crusaders benefited from 34 points in the paint compared to 22 by their opponent.
- UD boasted a 23-13 edge on points off turnovers despite only committing two fewer than Carroll (16-14).
- Dallas shot 54.5 percent in the first half in field goals.
- The Pioneers were led by Kyle Keranen with 24 points. All came in the second half. He was 8-of-17 shooting field goals and shot 5-for-11 in threes.
- Ben Widdes contributed 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
- Each team connected on eight three-pointers.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Crusaders scored the first five points within the first minute and a half to get off to a quick start. Winning the jump ball, the Crusaders turned the ball over, but responded to a Carroll miss with Giadolor making the first of both made three-pointers this game. Kaiser followed the next possession with an inside layup coming from Gonzalez. Tyler Ingebrigtsen hit a jumper at 18:24 to get the guests on the board and cut the deficit to 5-2. Kaiser scored about a minute later after Colvin this time completed an inside pass for the forward's easy layup. Giadolor's other made thee stretched the edge to 10-4 about four minutes through the beginning juncture.
Over the next four minutes, the Pioneers worked to narrow the margin and got within two (15-13) on both made free throws by Ray Pierce. UD's Jacob DelAngel responded with a layup and Carroll got another basket traded by Widdes. A Sarrat layup and jumper started a stretch of 11 unanswered points. Colvin had a jumper after Sarrat's first four points. Gonzalez dialed a trey, and Kaiser knocked a jumper down to cap the run. The Gonzalez triple opened the Crusaders' first double-digit lead of the contest (26-15).
Widdes got the Pioneers off the four-minute drought with a trifecta of his own. However, the Navy and White clung on with the momentum, eventually pushing its largest lead at the time to 17 (37-20) on a Victory Garate (Austin, Texas) three-pointer. He scored all his baskets from downtown with a team-high of three for nine points. Sarrat had a trey of his own with 42 seconds before intermission. That three was the final points in the first, and carried the widest margin of the game for Dallas at 19.
Coming out 44-25, the Pioneers turned up the intensity and got the momentum back on their side quickly. Nick Penny was fouled 15 seconds into the half on a made three-pointer. His successful free throw completed a four-point play. Dallas responded with consecutive field goals by Kaiser and Colvin to negate the stretch, but then Kale Maupin hit a three at 17:52 to start an 18-4 run over the next five minutes. Part of that incredible run was a trio of three-points sank in just as many straight possessions by Keranen. Tanner Zaeske completed the run with a layup to nip the margin at 52-47.
Rory MacCallum's field goal deep in the paint moved the UD edge back to seven with just under 12 minutes to go. The next five points in less than a minute put the Pioneers within one possession. Keranen's remained sharp with his fourth trifecta in the last six made CU field goals to nip the gap 54-52. Widdes hit a layup at 9:36 to knot the game for the first time since the 0-0 jump. The Crusaders got a three from Garate and a layup from Kaiser to go back in front. Colvin assisted on both plays. Kaiser added another layup to complete the seven unanswered points with 7:30 remaining.
Carroll's Keranen kept scorching though with the next nine points for his team on his own. After a three started the spurt, the game-high scorer rattled six points in a row to knot the score again 63-all. Penny split at the free throw line at 4:23, making the back end to give the Pioneers their first advantage all night. UD missed an opportunity to regain the lead by going 0-for-2 at the line the next possession. Neither side scored over a minute, and Colvin got UD back even by hitting the second shot at the charity stripe. Prior to that possession, the Crusaders gained the opportunity to tie or take the lead by forcing a five-second violation on an inbounds play at 3:34.
The battle turned to the line, as Carroll's Keranen made both and the Crusaders' Sarrat responded with both to knot the board at 66 with 1:45. It was all Dallas after that juncture as Kaiser produced his fourth block of the game deep along right side of the basket. The Pioneers maintained possession and called a timeout. However, a missed three by Keranen gave Dallas the ball and Giadolor drove deep in the middle of the paint and sank the go-ahead jumper. Both sides turned the ball over multiple times but a second steal by Colvin led to a pass to Giadolor, which was dished back to Sarrat for a dagger three with 25 seconds left. The team's leading scorer added a free throw to stretch the lead 72-66, before Carroll finished the scoring with one free throw.
UP NEXT
Dallas continues a four-game home stand with Rhodes College on January 2. Tip-off is slated at 2 p.m.