UD Men's Basketball Wins 3rd in a Row; Play St. Thomas in SCAC Quarterfinals this Friday at 6 PM
(Photo Courtesy of Charlie Lengal III)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The University of Dallas men's basketball team won their final regular season game of the year against Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) opponent Colorado College on Sunday, 64-60. UD's victory against the Tigers was their third straight win, all on the road.
Dallas never trailed in the game against Colorado and led by as many as 10 points in the second half. However, the Tigers did not go away quietly and tied the score five times in the game with the last tie coming at 50-50 with 8:23 left in the game. The game remained close the rest of the way, but Dustin Mathis (Forth Worth, Texas) hit the game sealing three-pointer with 11 second left to make the score 64-58.
Jack Boyle (Silver Spring, Md.) had a big game for Dallas with his fourth double-double of the season. Boyle led all players with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Cameran Hyde (Missouri City, Texas) added 13 points for Dallas and Jai Love (St. Louis, Mo.) and Mathis each scored 11. Love also led all players in assists with six for his fifth game of the season with five or more assists.
Colorado's Scott Cunningham led the Tigers with 12 points and Fisher Gates and Jack McCrosky both scored 10 points each.
Dallas scored the first five points of the game off of baskets by Mathis. Dallas took their largest lead of the first half on a three-pointer by Michael Wambsganss (Denver, Colo.), 16-7. After Alex Russo hit a jumper at 14:18 both teams went on a nearly three minute scoring drought until Fisher hit a shot at just about 11 and a half left in the first. Colorado went on to tie the game for the first time at 22-22 before Dallas closed out the first half with the lead at 31-28.
In the second half, UD quickly jumped out with a 9-2 run in a span of a little over two minutes. The Tigers drew close at 43-41 just under two minutes later. Scoring over the next eight minutes came at a premium, but eventually Colorado was able to tie the game at 50-50. In the last few minutes, UD was able to hang on off of a string of big free throws by multiple Crusaders culminating in the final three-pointer by Mathis.
With the win Dallas ends the season at 4-6 and with the loss Colorado finishes at 0-8.
On Monday, the SCAC Tournament seeds were finalized with the Crusaders earning the seventh seed after tying with Texas Lutheran University with a 4-6 conference mark. Dallas will play the second seed University of St. Thomas in Houston on Friday, March 5 at 6 p.m. Fans can get all the information about the tournament at the Official Tournament Website.