Tigers' Hot Shooting gives Men's Basketball First Home Loss
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's basketball team (6-7, 1-3 SCAC) couldn't overcome a scorching three-point shooting Colorado College (9-6, 5-0 SCAC) team on Friday night. Trailing 37-20 at halftime, the Crusaders would fall in their third consecutive conference contest, and snap a 10-game home winning streak for the regular season dating back to last year. At one point, the Tigers had drained 81.9 percent (9-of-11) from three.
Dallas trailed early 4-0 out of the tip before freshman Prince Giadolor (Rockwall, Texas) connected on the second of two free throws with three minutes ticked off the first half clock. The forward would hit UD's first field goal of the evening with 15:20 until halftime and erased early deficit with consecutive layups to knot things seven-all. Junior Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) drained a trifecta on the next home team possession to counter a trey by the Tigers' Eric Houska and even the scoreboard again 10-10.
Houska would got 3-for-5 beyond the arc in the game, with all occurring in the first stanza. The Crusaders would climb back within one point on the following possession, with a layup by sophomore Rory MacCallum (Golden, Colo.). However the home team went cold from the field and only tallied eight points in the remaining 12:39 minutes heading towards the break.
Colorado College maintained the momentum and would pour in seven-straight baskets from downtown to build its first double-digit advantage of the game. Justin Berardino would hit the trey that lifted CC by that margin, 22-12, with just under 10 minutes to go before halftime. Junior Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) ended the streak of nine unanswered and cut things under 10 points, but Houska sank his final trey to put the Tigers up double-digits the remainder of the contest.
With 8:43 left in the contest, a jumper by freshman TJ Cooks (Jenks, Okla.) would spark a 12-2 run for the Navy and White, as the guard tallied all eight of his points during this span. The final six points in this outburst and two rebounds occurred from Cooks. He nailed back-to-back treys to bridge the gap to 10 (61-51), with 5:23 to play. Junior Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) had assists on both trifectas.
In the second frame, the Crusaders shot much better from the field with a 56.3 percentage (18-of-32), but Colorado College was able to counter back and keep the undefeated league play going. After the nice run by UD, the Tigers regathered the momentum and kept the home squad from narrowing the gap under 11 the rest of the way.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Dallas shot 40.7 percent (24-of-59) overall, 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from three-point range, and 9-of-21) from the free throw stripe. The Crusaders were outrebounded 40-31, but totaled an 18-17 edge in assists.
- Gonzalez led the way with 15 points and dished six assists. Also helping form a trio of double-digit scoring performances were Kaiser and Giadolor with 11 and 10 points, respectively. No UD player garnered over five rebounds, with Gonzalez, Kaiser, and MacCallum tying a team-high of four.
- The Crusaders did the majority of scoring in the paint with a 34-22 edge in that category. Dallas would also outdo the Tigers 10-6 in fastbreak points. CC was forced into 15 turnovers compared to nine Dallas miscues. The opponent did log a 15-9 edge in points off miscues though.
- Colorado College would shoot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) in field goals overall. A large amount of points fell in from beyond the three-point line. This included a 9-for-14 mark in the first half and 11-for-22 in the game. The Tigers also went 77.8 percent (14-of-18) at the line.
- Houska led the visitors with a game-high 17 points and handed out four assists. Berardino was right behind with 16 points and Andrew Maddock added 10. James Lonergan snatched 12 boards.
UP NEXT
Dallas is back on the court tomorrow at 4 p.m. against Centenary College of Louisiana.