Gonzalez lands Career-High; Men's Basketball defeats Luther College
IRVING, Texas – Junior Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) posted a career-high 20 points, with 13 coming in the second half, to help lift the University of Dallas men's basketball team (4-4) to .500 on Tuesday afternoon versus Luther College (1-9). The Crusaders have won three-straight contests, all on this current four-game home stand. UD has also now won eight regular season games at the Maher Center dating back to last year.
Dallas jumped out to a 5-0 advantage during the first minute and a half out of the tip. Things stalled offensively until 16:21 minutes were remaining in the first stanza, as Kevin Stafford knocked a three-pointer down to get the Norse on the board. The guests would push a 7-0 run before junior Victor Garate (Austin, Texas) sank a trey to put UD back in front. There were eight lead changes and two ties in the game, but all of them occurred prior to intermission.
Gonzalez would nail two of the final three shots on Crusader possessions to finalize the frame. Prior to those baskets, the point guard only had three points. His big ending of the half put Dallas ahead 31-26 at halftime.
Out of the break, Luther would nip the deficit to one point (35-34) with six unanswered points. Gonzalez connected on two of his three treys in the game and would string 10 of the 12 points on a 12-3 outburst by the Navy and White. Another jumper and pair of free throws by the native of San Antonio, Texas, would extend UD's edge to its largest at that juncture, 52-40.
Freshman Darrius Colvin (Waco, Texas) would drain a trey and jumper to extend the Crusaders' greatest margins of a lead at respective times, 7:32, and 3:17 remaining. Colvin's final field goal pushed the largest lead of the night to 18 (61-43).
The Norse had a 10-3 run to finish the last three minutes off the strength of a trio of three-pointers. However, a potential old-fashioned three-point play went for naught on an offensive charge drawn by Dallas. That play prevented the advantage dipping into single digits with 1:55 left on the scoreboard, and stymied any potential momentum for LC.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Gonzalez had a game-high 20 points, which bested his previous personal high of 17 points versus Schreiner University on February 9, 2014. It's his sixth game to reach double figures in scoring. He added six rebounds to tie a team-high, and five assists.
- Junior Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) added a double figure scoring performance with 14 points, with 10 coming in the first. Classmate Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) matched a team-high six boards and Colvin tossed nine points off the bench.
- The Crusaders kept Luther at season-lows from the floor and in three-point field goals at 29 percent (18-of-62) and 27.3 percent (9-of-33), respectively. The Norse won the rebounding battle 36-33.
- For the game, Dallas shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field, 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from three-point land, and 75 percent (12-of-16) from the free throw line. Both squads had an even 12 assists and 13 turnovers.
- Nathan Meyer led the guests with 11 points and McCoy Matthias contributed 10. Christian Wright grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH
"I thought we played great defense tonight. Luther runs some great sets and has excellent three-point shooters. We wanted to try and contest all their shots behind the arc and make them earn everything. I was pleased with our effort and execution on the defensive end of the floor. Being on a break so long, I expected us to be a little rusty. Zo did a great job of getting us going. He scored, assisted, and rebounded for us, which gave him a great all-around game. Mike Sarrat did a great job as well scoring and drawing the defense to open things up for other guys. Finally, I also was pleased with how our bench contributed to both ends of the floor. With our SCAC opener on Saturday, we have to keep improving and be ready, because every league game is a battle." –Head Coach Jarred Samples
UP NEXT
Dallas begins conference action on January 2 at 2 p.m. This will conclude a four-game homestand.