MARSHALL, Texas – Looking for redemption from taking their first loss of the season, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team will make the long road trip across the Lone Star State to Alpine, Texas where they'll meet the Sul Ross State University Lobos. On a two-game winning streak, ETBU is currently 3-1 overall and is off to a 2-0 start in conference play.

Those two wins came last week against Concordia and Mary Hardin-Baylor. Against CTX, ETBU hung on to an 84-81 victory. Six players, including Robby Dooley (18 points), Westin Riddick (17 points), Darrice Whitley (13 points), Jordan Gosey (12 points), Landin Brown (11 points) and Nathan Fontenot (11 points) each tallied double-figures with Whitley grabbing 10 rebounds for a double-double. Two days later, ETBU caught fire from behind the three-point line as they made 21 three's that led to a 106-96 win over UMHB. Jordan Grey led ETBU with a career-high 25 points, including six three-pointers. Fontenot, Whitley, and Riddick added double-digit points with 15, 13, and 12 points respectively.  Dooley tallied 16 points in the UMHB win as well, which made him average 17 points per game in the two wins. By also grabbing eight rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game while making 52.4% of his shots, Dooley picked up ETBU's first ASC Player of the Week award for the season.

After four games, ETBU is averaging 89.0 points per game while giving up 85.0. ETBU has made 42.8% from the field, 41.9% from behind the three-point line, and 71.1% from the free-throw line. Dooley has been ETBU's top scorer by averaging 18.3 points per game while leading the team in assists by averaging 3.8 apg. Gosey has grabbed 7.3 rpg per game while Brown leads the team in steals by averaging 3.3 per game.

Overall, head coach Brandon Curran was thrilled by his team's hard fought effort against two of the toughest teams in the ASC West. "Concordia's always hard to play against," says Coach Curran. I thought we handled the pressure well. We only turned it over fifteen times. I thought we defended well in the second half and did a great job on the defensive glass. We held them to zero offensive rebounds in the second half. I was just really pleased with our effort with what the guys did there. Mary Hardin-Baylor was just one of those nights where the basket was huge. A lot of guys were hitting shots. I felt we got stops, especially early in the second half. We were able to build a lead and hang onto it. It was just fun and it was a great game."

Now ETBU will have their first ASC Conference game on the road as they travel to Sul Ross State. A few weeks ago, ETBU dropped a tough 82-80 defeat to the Lobos at home. Dooley led the Tigers with 16 points while Gosey added a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Though the game did not count towards the conference standings, ETBU will put their winning streak on the line with a matchup against the team that was picked to finish second in the ASC West Division.

Having dealt with a loss to the University of the Southwest 88-80, SRSU (2-4, 0-1) is currently scoring 74.8 points per game while yielding 77.8. Caleb Thomasson is the team's leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker by averaging 17.8 ppg and 9.3 rpg while collecting six blocks. He also leads the team in steals with six. Conner Dawson and C.J. Ross both are averaging 2.7 assists per game

For ETBU, facing the Lobos marks the beginning of a stretch of three tough road games. "The first time we played them," said Coach Curran. "I thought we played pretty well. They played well too. We're about to be road warriors going up to Alpine. It's a nine-hour trip. Then we'll head over to San Antonio after coming back from there. We just got to have a toughness mindset. We got to be consistent and give a great effort. I think our guys will do well."

ETBU will finish off the week with two games in San Antonio as they'll take on Trinity on Friday, December 15^th at 6:00 PM and Southwestern on Saturday, December 16^th at 7:00 PM. TU (5-2) is coming off a 76-50 win against Hardin-Simmons. Averaging 77 points per game, TU is led by Danny Rivera, who is averaging 14.1 ppg and 8.9 rebounds per game while Jones has 4.4 assists per game to lead his team. Meanwhile, the Pirates of SU (2-4) are coming off a loss at Howard Payne losing 86-73. Collectively, SU is scoring 77.5 ppg while giving up 86.8 ppg. Leading them is Ryan Ogden, who is scoring 16.5 ppg, averaging 7.7 rebounds per game, and dishing out 3.5 assists per game.

Tip-off starts at 7:30 PM on Monday night in Alpine.