#7 Dallas edged by #2 St. Thomas in SCAC Quarterfinals
(Photo courtesy of St. Thomas Athletics)
HOUSTON - The University of Dallas men's basketball team ended the 2020-2021 season with a loss in the first round of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament. The 7-seed Crusaders fell to the 2-seed St. Thomas University 84-76 in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
UD and St. Thomas played a close game with Dallas holding a slight edge for most of the first 30 minutes. About midway through the 2nd half, St. Thomas swung the advantage their way and they never relinquished the lead.
Dallas shot significantly better from the field and from 3-point range outshooting St. Thomas 50.0%-39.7% and 41.2%-29.7%. Despite their sizable shooting advantage, UD was undone by turnovers committing 23 to just 12 by St. Thomas.
Jack Boyle (Silver Springs, Md.) was the team high scorer for Dallas with 17 points and eight rebounds. Jai Love (St. Louis, Mo.) tied with Celt Juan Hood for the game-high in assists with six.
Marcus Juarez (Clint, Texas), Cameran Hyde (Missouri City, Texas) and Love each scored over 10 points for Dallas with 15, 13 and 12.
The double digit scorers for the Celts were Christian Alaekwe with 19, Freddie Ricks with 18, Adam Kanafani with 14 and Hood with 13.
UD scored first in the game off of a 3-pointer by Dustin Mathis (Ft. Worth, Texas). After a few ties, St. Thomas finally took their first lead at 14-13. After Dallas retook the lead 17-15 on a layup by Boyle, UD held the lead until St. Thomas tied it again at 34-34. UD broke the tie on a 3-pointer by Hyde and went into halftime ahead 40-38.
St. Thomas quickly went ahead in the 2nd half going up 43-42 on a 3-pointer by Cameron Gims. The lead traded hands several times until Dallas went on an 8-0 run to take a 54-48 lead. St. Thomas came back with their own 10-2 run and Juarez gave the lead back to Dallas for the last time in the game on a 3-pointer at 59-58 with 11:33 to go. Down the final stretch, St. Thomas held Dallas at arm's length to secure the victory, 84-76, and they will move on to the SCAC semi-final.
The SCAC tournament will continue next week. St. Thomas will play Centenary College of Louisiana and Austin College will play the winner of Trinity University and Schreiner University.