TYLER, Texas – Cold shooting in the second half by the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team would lead them to drop a 90-83 game to the University of Texas Tyler Patriots. The loss puts ETBU at 17-4 overall and 11-3 in conference play.
Robby Dooley, who also led ETBU with five assists, tied his own career high with 23 points while
Jordan Gosey would set a new career high with 20 points.
Westin Riddick and
Darrice Whitley would tally 11 points each while
Landin Brown led with 11 rebounds. UTT was led by Emeka Obukwelu, who tallied a game-high 32 points while Josh Tatum posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Johnell Lane also tallied double-digits with 13 points.
Overall, ETBU shot 39.5% from the field and 16.7% from the three-point line. But ETBU did outrebound UTT 50-40 and outscore the Patriots 52-42 in the paint. They also made 76.5% from the free throw line.
The first few minutes was a scoring duel between Gosey and Obukwelu as they combine to score the first twelve points in an 8-4 lead for UTT (16:57). But ETBU would then answer with a 12-2 run (16:46-13:33) to lead 16-10. This would include a three (16:46), a jumper (14:30), and free throws (13:33) by Whitley, a three by Riddick (15:11), and a layup by Dooley (16:05). ETBU would then push their lead to 19-13 thanks to a three-point play by
Alan Wilkinson (12:39) before extending it to 23-15 (10:31) on a layup by
Davis Robinson. But the Patriots would charge back with a 12-4 run (9:46-6:06) to lead 27-24 only for five points by
Dion Mack (5:37, 4:44) and a three by Riddick to make it 33-27 (5:07). UTT would cut the lead as close as 39-36 (0:33) before Dooley would beat the buzzer to end the first half giving ETBU a 41-36 lead at the break.
In the second half, ETBU would push the lead to as far as seven points at 49-42 (16:44) before UTT answered with four straight points to cut the lead at 49-46 (15:59). Gosey would then push the lead to five at 51-46 with a layup seventeen seconds later. The Patriots rallied for ten straight points (15:13-13:24) to lead 56-51. But Brown (13:00) and
Gavin Sabo (12:25) would tie up the score with a layup and a three-pointer respectively at 56. After each team would tack on more points to keep the game tied at 58, UTT would get a jumper by Obukwelu that would give the Patriots the lead for good at 60-58 (10:22). ETBU would cut the lead to as close as 64-63 (8:31) only for UTT to push the lead. With 2:28 to play, ETBU trailed 76-73. But they couldn't get the shot needed to tie the game as UTT would go on a 7-1 run to lead 83-74 with 1:15 to play. ETBU would cut the lead to five points at 86-81 with twenty-eight seconds left, but the Patriots sealed the victory with the free throws needed in the win.
ETBU will look to bounce back when they host Belhaven at 7:30 PM this Thursday at Ornelas Gymnasium.
