Men's Basketball falls to Ferrum on Saturday in "V-Foundation Tournament"
ROANOKE, Va. – The University of Dallas men's basketball team (0-3) fell 65-59 to Ferrum College (2-3) on Saturday to wrapup the "Dick Leftwich V-Foundation Tournament" hosted on the campus of Roanoke College. A tough first half was too difficult to overcome despite a strong run by the Crusaders in the final minutes of regulation.
Trailing 35-19 at halftime, Dallas outscored the Panthers by 10 in the second stanza (40-30). Ferrum had led by as many as 22 (41-19), pushing the momentum out of intermission before UD caught fire.
A layup by freshman Prince Giadolor (Rockwall, Texas) with 8:19 minutes remaining in the game cut the deficit into single-digits (53-44). It was in the midst of an 8-0 run for the Crusaders.
The contest would remain about the same until a three-pointer by junior Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) with 1:37 left brought UD within six points. Classmate Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) connected on another triple in the final 22 seconds for the Navy and White after FC answered to move the scoreboard to a five-point difference. It was as close as Dallas could climb though, as the team fell in its third-straight.
Freshman TJ Cooks (Jenks, Okla.) was named to the All-Tournament Team.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Gonzalez tied a season-high 16 points scored. The point guard poured all his buckets in the second half (shooting 5-for-9), and also led the Crusaders in scoring with the lone double-digit performance. Junior Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) and Giadolor tossed in eight each.
- Kaiser led the team with six rebounds. A trio of UD members: sophomores Emmanuel Calton (Keller, Texas) and Austin DiCambio (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Giadolor pulled down five apiece.
- Dallas shot a season-best 54.5-percent (6-for-11) from behind the three-point arc. The team also was 15-for-21 at the free throw line, and won the rebounding battle 35-33.
- Ferrum forced the Crusaders into 14 turnovers, while committing 12 miscues. The Panthers swiped eight steals compared to three from UD.
- Rashawn Speas went 9-for-14 from the field and notched a game-high 18 points. Josh Grimard, Marvin Wilson, and Alek Ayer followed with 15, 13, and 12 points, respectively.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH SAMPLES
"Today was the tale of two halves. We got good shots at the rim in the 1st half, but we just could not finish them. Our guys battled back in the 2nd half, but we dug ourselves into a hole that was too deep to get out of. We did not get the results we wanted from the weekend, but we were able to gain some playing experience for our newcomers and hopefully we can learn from our mistakes. We have to get ready for two more tough road games next weekend." –Head Coach Jarred Samples on this weekend's results
UP NEXT
Dallas is off for a week, before concluding a five-game road trip with games on November 27-28. The first of the two-day span is at Curry College at 3 p.m. (EST). The Crusaders end the long travel stint with Eastern Nazarene at 1 p.m. (EST).