TYLER, Texas – Another game resulted in yet another victory for the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team on Thursday night, this one on the road against the University of Texas-Tyler, 73-62, inside of the Patriot Center. ETBU's nine-straight victories represent the program's longest such stretch since last season when the team won 10-consecutive games. ETBU is now 17-4 overall and 10-2 in American Southwest Conference competition.
Dylan Augustine, Junior Mitchell, Jordan Quillian and Wilbert Thomas each landed in double figures for ETBU. Augustine had a game-high 21 points, while Mitchell totaled another dozen points. Quillian and Thomas chipped in 10 points apiece. For Texas-Tyler, Deon Rodgers (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Demarcus Metcalf (14 points, seven rebounds) both landed in double figures.
ETBU outshot Texas-Tyler on the night, 41.4 percent-to-29.0 percent. Additionally, ETBU held the upper hand in 3-point shooting, 45.5 percent-to-15.8 percent. Texas-Tyler did win the rebounding game though, holding a 51-to-45 advantage.
ETBU led from start to finish and opened the game by claiming a 13-4 lead. In that spurt, six different ETBU players scored, including 3-point shots by Augustine and Eric Horton. Later on with the score 18-12 in ETBU's favor, a string of 10-straight points moved ETBU ahead by a 28-12 margin, capped by a Tyler Day 3-pointer at the 7:45 mark. ETBU would leave the court at halftime ahead by 11 points, 36-25.
In the second half, ETBU went up by as many as 23 points following an Augustine basket with 11:05 remaining in regulation that made the score 61-38. Texas-Tyler did, however, respond with a 13-0 burst to put a serious dent into ETBU's lead, 61-51, with 4:41 left to play. But ETBU would hold and exit the court with a 73-62 victory.
Augustine contributed 18 points in the second half alone for ETBU, converting four-of-four 3-point shots. For Texas-Tyler, Metcalf had a dozen second-half points, while teammate Rodgers did damage with 11 points and nine rebounds in the final half.
ETBU continues its road trip on Saturday afternoon, competing at LeTourneau (Texas) University for a 3 p.m. game.
