Season-high in Free Throws pull Men's Basketball over Pirates
GEORGETOWN, Texas – A season-most in made free throws provided the University of Dallas men's basketball team (12-6, 3-5 SCAC) its first winning streak in conference play and evened the season series with Southwestern University (11-6, 5-3 SCAC). After allowing an opponent-high in scoring a week ago to the Pirates, Dallas was able to cool down a team that had won their last four in a 72-66 decision on Friday.
The setback ended SU's four-game winning streak while Dallas won for the second time in a row after snapping a three-game slide last Saturday.
After both squads traded leads in the early going, UD rattled a 7-0 run to go ahead in the first two and a half minutes of the contest. Southwestern pulled within a point, 9-8, and then a trey from Travis Kurtz sparked six answered points.
The Crusaders nipped at the edge but would be unable to muster momentum to gain an advantage until the final 3:29 minutes of the beginning stanza. Down 28-23 at the time, the Navy and White roar ahead in the closing moments with 10 of the final 12 points of the half tallied on its side.
The final four points which lifted UD came from the free throw line on a pair from sophomore Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) and freshman Emmanuel Calton (Keller, Texas).
Most of the second half witnessed much of the same back-and-forth action the previous 20 minutes provided. It was definitely a barnburner with the affair featuring nine ties and 12 lead changes.
Dallas never trailed again as a pair of Anthony Johnson (Texas City, Texas) free throws around the midway portion tied and then another set lifted the road team 51-50 a couple possessions later. The freshman captured all 10 of his points, including a perfect night at the line (8-of-8), during a four-minute span that all came in a row for UD.
Southwestern was cold from the field as a Kurtz layup at the 13:30 in the second was the last basket made until a jump shot from Adrian Johnson with 7:24 remaining. The Crusaders also were on a 12-5 scoring span during the six minutes.
There was still plenty of time for the Pirates, as consecutive buckets, which included an old fashioned three-point play allowed SU to get within two. Dallas handled the pressure sealing things with 10 of its final 14 points coming at the line. The Black and Gold were within a trey a couple of times, but UD secured the triumph with its clutch shooting.
A quartet of players notched double figures for Dallas led by senior Mark Promberger (Phoenix, Ariz.) with 14 points. It's the third time this year the forward has matched his second-highest point total for the season.
Not far behind were sophomore Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) and senior Aaron Wyatt (Frisco, Texas) with 13 and 12, respectively. Johnson's 10 mentioned above rounded out the unit.
Wyatt and sophomore Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) pulled down eight rebounds apiece to match game-highs.
UD outshot the Pirates 41.7-percent to 33.3-percent and won the battle on the boards 41-36. The Navy and White allowed 18 second chance points, but received plenty of contributions from the reserves with 31 points.
Southwestern placed two guys in double-digits for scoring with Zach Whitlock claiming 14 points for a team-best. Kurtz was slightly behind with 13. Four players chipped in seven each for the Pirates.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Crusaders were sharp from the charity stripe posting an 83.3 clip (30-of-36) while SU connected on 65.7-percent (23-of-35). Both teams matched their respective scoring outputs per half with UD edging the Black and Gold 36-33.
NEXT OPPONENT
Dallas is on the court less than 24 hours from now at Texas Lutheran University for a 6 p.m. tip-off. Another opponent UD faced exactly a week ago, the road team looks to go 2-0 on the season series after edging the Bulldogs, 72-67 in Irving, Texas.