Crusaders survive Friday at Trinity
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – For the second straight road contest, the University of Dallas men's basketball team (10-8, 4-4 SCAC) found itself in a tight ballgame down the stretch. Dallas would hold on for its fourth consecutive victory on Friday with a 61-57 result at Trinity University (6-13, 2-6). The Crusaders have tied a season-long winning streak for the second time, and have won their last three conference games to improve to .500.
This also marks the first time Dallas has defeated the Tigers on the road since January 11, 1992. The final was 80-77, and UD has won three of its last four in head-to-head matchups. This includes taking both victories in the season series.
Junior Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) would reign in a critical rebound on a missed go-ahead trifecta attempt by Trinity's Brian Blum with seven seconds remaining. The guard would be fouled and sealed the contest with both free throws connected on. Prior to that possession Sarrat had gone one of two at the charity stripe and the Tigers trailed 59-57 with 14 ticks on the clock.
The home team was unable to come up with an answer, and the Crusaders survived a dramatic finish on a night they tied a season-low for made field goals with 19. The 39.6 percent was the third lowest field goal percentage this year and lowest in SCAC play. Fortunately for the Navy and White, Trinity would be limited to 27.5 percent, which was a season-low for UD opponents shooting on the floor.
Neither team could muster much offense in the first half, as each side tallied eight field goals apiece by intermission. The Crusaders were a little better from three-point land, as senior Sean Bambace (San Antonio, Texas) connected on two of the trio of long range jumpers for all six of his points in the game. Dallas led 26-23 at the break.
It was back-and-forth on the scoreboard through the first stanza, and TU would post the first five points of the next half. This included a trey from Jimmy Clark to lift the home squad up 28-26 with 18:44 minutes left. That would be the final time the Maroon and Gold were ahead in this contest.
Junior Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) knotted the game and sparked a 14-1 run for UD that was capped on an old fashion three-point play by sophomore Austin DiCambio (Huntington Beach, Calif.). His free throw lifted Dallas to its largest lead of the game, 40-29, with 13:15 remaining.
The Tigers quickly dissolved the gap with eight unanswered and never fell back more than nine the rest of the way. Junior Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) drained a trey to reflect that advantage 52-43 with just under six minutes. Down 58-51, TU rattled the next seven points, but missed a chance at drawing even as AJ Pulliam missed the first of two with 18 seconds. The previous Tigers' possession also witnessed a chance to tie things, but Kaiser would swat UD's lone block of the game to keep things 58-56. Sarrat would complete the nail-biter with three of the final four free throws.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Kaiser and Sarrat each notched double figure scoring efforts to lead the Crusaders. Kaiser had a game-high 16 points and Sarrat followed right after with 15. DiCambio chipped eight from the bench.
- Kaiser and DiCambio were both shy one rebound of cracking double-digits with nine apiece. It would have been Kaiser's third straight contest with a double-double. Gonzalez and Sarrat each had seven boards. UD narrowly edged the Tigers 46-45 on the glass.
- Trinity did pick up 17 offensive rebounds compared to eight by the Crusades and that led to a 17-5 advantage in second chance points for home. Both teams were even 24-all with points in the paint.
- Leading the Tigers offensively was Jayden Holden with 15 points. Ben Beastie contributed 13. Pulliam, the team's leading scorer with 17.3 points-per-game, was held to five, but did garner a game-high 12 boards.
UP NEXT
Dallas is at Schreiner University on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip-off. The Crusaders prevailed 71-55 a week ago in Irving, Texas.