Men's Basketball cannot Halt Texas Lutheran Friday
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's basketball (10-12, 4-8 SCAC) fell 80-71 to Texas Lutheran University (18-5, 10-2 SCAC) on Friday night at the Maher Center. Despite outscoring the number two ranked team in the South Region by nine in the second half, the Crusaders faced too large of a hole at halftime (51-33). Dallas moved to sixth place in the conference standings after Trinity University edged Colorado College by one point the same night.
Three minutes elapsed by before junior guard Lorenzo Gonzalez (San Antonio, Texas) got the Crusaders on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws. A possession later, he nailed his lone trifecta on the night to knot a 5-all ballgame. With 12:40 minutes until intermission, sophomore Rory MacCallum (Golden, Colo.) evened the game at 12-12, and freshman TJ Cooks (Jenks, Okla.) sent UD in front for the first time on the night with a trey a little over a minute later.
The home squad went up by as many as four (29-25) after junior Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) drained a three-pointer of his own. Texas Lutheran's Shawn Hamilton countered the next trip down the court with a triple of his own. A pair of free throws by Jacob Kouremetis would lift the Black and Gold up for good with exactly six minutes to go. That combination sparked a 19-0 run that would pull the Bulldogs ahead 46-29 with a minute and a half remaining.
UD's Junior Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) ended the spurt with a layup. The Crusaders opened the final 20 minutes with 15 of the next 17 points to narrow a 53-48 gap. Sarrat was responsible for the final six straight points on that four and a half minute stretch. After Paris Marquez, who had a game-high 24 points, chimed in with a layup, Gonzalez would answer with another jump shot to keep the deficit at five.
Seven straight points for the Bulldogs extended the lead for them back into double-digits. This included one of the five three-pointers Marquez dialed in. He had another trey and after a Dallas turnover, Sterling Holmes made a layup to shift the momentum back on the board to a 67-52 advantage and 8:46 remaining.
Dallas got within six points in the final 18 seconds by Gonzalez, but the margin was too wide, as the home team fell 0-2 against TLU on the season series.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Sarrat led the Crusaders with 21 points and made three trifectas. It is the second time in as many contests, the guard has surpassed 20. Gonzalez contributed 14 points and freshman Darrius Colvin (Waco, Texas) rounded out the trio of double-digit scorers with 10.
- Freshman Austin DiCambio (Huntington Beach, Calif.) made his first start and garnered a team-leading nine rebounds. Dallas was outdone 45-24 in that category. Gonzalez led with six of the team's 17 assists.
- TLU held a slight shooting edge with 44.6 percent to 42.4 percent from the floor. It is the third straight game the Crusaders have drained seven three's as a team. Both squads made 14 free throws, with the guests having one more attempt.
- Dallas won the turnover battle 13-10, and tallied a 20-11 advantage on points off the miscues. The Bulldogs did score 16 second chance points and held a 40-26 edge for points in the paint.
- Marquez paced a trio of double figure performances with 24 in the point's column. Holmes had 11 and Harris Jowell nearly notched a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.
UP NEXT
Dallas wraps up the home portion of the regular season tomorrow at 4 p.m. versus Southwestern University.