ABILENE, Texas - Starting the game down 16-0, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team would rally back and finish with a 95-85 victory against McMurry University. The win puts ETBU on a seven-game winning streak as they are 10-2 overall and 4-1 in the ASC.
ETBU's top scorer was
Nathan Fontenot, who tallied 17 points.
Robby Dooley scored all of his 16 points in the second half to tie
Westin Riddick in the game.
Landin Brown grabbed a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while dishing out seven assists.
Gavin Sabo also had 11 points while
Jordan Gosey blocked two shots. McM was led by Mike Williams Jr., who finished with 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for a double-double. Luke Stephenson finished with 18 points while LaRandall Scroggins also had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Zacc Carter had 15 points while Colin Taylor had a game-high eight assists.
ETBU had the deciding edge in field goal percentage (47.7%-44.6%) and three-point percentage (39.1%-31.6%) while McM won the free-throw game with a 72.4%-64.9% margin. ETBU had 39 bench points and 42 points in the paint that were key in the win despite being outrebounded 42-40 to the War Hawks.
Early on, ETBU had problems scoring for the first four minutes as McM jumped up to a 16-0 lead. It wasn't until the 15:49 mark when Gosey got the Tigers on a board. After each team would exchange a bucket, Fontenot would help key a 12-2 run (11:26-10:15) with eight points to cut the margin to 20-16. Moments later, a 7-3 ETBU run made the score tied at 23 with 6:41 to go. Then, ETBU went off for ten straight points combined by
Davis Robinson and Gosey to lead 33-23. Among the plays in the stretch was a dunk by Robinson at 4:33. But the War Hawks would answer with a 14-2 run (4:09-1:20) to lead 37-36. Sabo would then answer with a three-pointer (0:54) for a 39-37 lead before McM finished with three straight points to lead 40-39 after one half.
In the second half, Riddick created a 7-2 run by himself in the first seventy-five seconds for a 46-42 lead. From that point on, ETBU would have control of the game with the lead although McM did make some decent runs to cut it close. Dooley got the first of 16 points with a three-point play at 16:44 as ETBU would see a 51-44 lead. Over the next five minutes, ETBU was playing with a six and seven point lead while McM could get the game as close as four points. With 11:20 to go, McM made it a 60-57 game before ETBU answered with an 8-3 run to lead 68-60. Four points by McM would make it 68-64 (8:46). Once again, ETBU would take full control as they would build a 15-2 run (8:46-4:58) that made it a seventeen point lead (83-66), the largest of the game for either team. But just like the previous game against Hardin-Simmons, McM would make one final charge as they had a 15-2 run of their own to cut the lead to 85-81 with 1:16 to go. In the end, ETBU would use free throws by Brown, Fontenot and Dooley to secure the 95-85 win.
After two games on their six day road trip, ETBU will with a road game in Brownwood against Howard Payne at 7:30 PM on Monday.
