Men's Basketball cannot get by the Tigers
COLORADO COLLEGE, Colo. – The University of Dallas men's basketball team (10-10, 4-6 SCAC) fell 67-63 at Colorado College (14-8, 9-2 SCAC). The Tigers claimed both wins on the season series. Despite Dallas outscoring the home squad 39-31 in the second half, it was not enough to overcome. UD is 2-2 on the current five-game road stint.
It was a tight game through the first portion of the opening stanza. The Crusaders held a six-point advantage (16-10) with 11:34 minutes until halftime on a layup by freshman TJ Cooks (Jenks, Okla.). However, Colorado College roared back on a 24-2 scoring streak that included five three-pointers.
Eric Houska and Andrew Maddock went back-to-back for treys that capped the lengthy spurt, and lifted CC to its greatest leading margin of 16 points for the contest. At this juncture, there was a little above four minutes remaining, and Dallas went into the break trailing 36-24.
The Crusaders stormed out of halftime with a 10-1 run off five layups. The first two came from freshman Prince Giadolor (Rockwall, Texas) and the next three were from junior Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.). The deficit was nipped to 37-34, but CC's Justin Berardino and James Lonergan drained threes on back-to-back trips down the floor to push the score back to 43-36. Two more field goals by Maddock and Lonergan over the next minute lifted the Tigers to a double-digit edge again (47-36).
UD's freshman Darrius Colvin (Waco, Texas) ended a three-minute scoring drought for the road squad and started a stretch of eight out of nine points etched on the road side of the scoreboard. Sophomore Austin DiCambio (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Cooks were catalysts with a dunk and three-pointer, respectively.
After the Tigers got back up a couple possessions, Dallas would achieve a final push by cutting the gap to a two-point display (58-56) with 1:32 remaining. Part of the string of seven unanswered was started by a layup with Kaiser and capped on a Colvin free throw. Within the run was a three-pointer by sophomore Solomon Berezin (League City, Texas).
Colorado College was able to salt the game away in the final 1:22 ticks by notching eight shots at the charity stripe. Junior Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) split at the line to bring the score to a 60-57 deficit. Sophomore Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) hit a trifecta in the final four seconds to cut things at five.
The Tigers produced two free throw makes off a quick foul and Gonzalez sank a desperation near-half court shot that found the bottom of the net as time expired. It was a thrilling shot with great difficulty, but not enough to erase the team's second-straight conference setback by less than five points.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
-Kaiser seized his eighth double-double performance with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sarrat matched a team-high 11 points and Colvin chipped nine from the bench.
- Dallas shot 36.2 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from the three-point arc. It was a tough night at the free throw stripe with a 6-for-17 effort.
- The road team did win the turnover battle by committing 10 compared to 16 miscues by the Tigers. This led to 15 points off turnovers for UD. The Crusaders also edged their opponent 13-7 in second chance opportunities.
- Colorado College did narrowly prevail on the boards by two (43-41). The team shot 39.6 percent overall and 34.6 percent from long range. This included nine treys connected on overall. The Tigers were 16-for-21 at the line.
- A quartet of players for CC broke double figures in the scoring column. Lonergan and Maddock matched 15 points for game-highs. Eric Houska and Berardino each contributed 10 as the four starters hit the feat. John Hatch and Maddock led the team in rebounding with eight apiece and Luke Winfield grabbed seven.
UP NEXT
Dallas travels to Centenary College to wrap up the road series. Tip-off at 12 p.m.