MARSHALL, Texas – With an explosion of 62 second half points, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball overcame a six-point deficit at halftime to win 97-78 over Belhaven University. ETBU is now 18-4 overall and 12-3 in American Southwest Conference East Division.
ETBU was led by
Jarrell Taylor, who tallied a season high 16 points, which was shared with
Robby Dooley, who also had a double-double with 10 rebounds.
Jordan Gosey (13 points),
Darrice Whitley (10 points) and
Nathan Fontenot (10 points) were also in double-figures while
Landin Brown dished out eight assists. For BU, Jonathan Durham (18 points), Isiah Brown (16 points), Joshua Roberts (14 points) and John Works (12 points, four rebounds) were the top scorers.
ETBU's second half shooting (65.7%) from the field would help them finish the game with 52.1% overall while they would make 83.3% from the free throw line. The Tigers were also dominant in the paint with a 56-27 edge while they outrebounded the Blazers 46-28.
Head coach
Brandon Curran was pleased with how well his team played on the game. "Going into the game, we really wanted to focus in defensively," said Coach Curran. "We didn't defend great in the first half. They hit a bunch of threes and shot a really high percentage in the first half. But I really felt like the guys learned and came out in the second half with the type of intensity that we have to have to compete at the highest level. I was just really proud of the defensive effort."
Each team would trade baskets, but BU would lead 6-4 (17:15) as ETBU would see layups by Dooley (18:50) and Gosey (17:15). They would extend it to 10-4 (13:52) before ETBU's Brown (13:34) and Dooley (13:03) would answer with a layup and a three-point play to cut it down to 10-9. The Blazers would soon catch fire as they would increase their lead to eight points at 25-17 (7:02). ETBU would cut the deficit as close as 35-32 on a layup by Dooley (2:39), but BU would finish the half carrying a six point lead at 41-35.
The second half would see ETBU do a 180 degree turn as they caught fire. It started when Whitley scored five straight points (20:00-19:22) tie the game. ETBU would then tally six straight points from Gosey (18:48, 17:53, 17:14) to complete the 12-0 run and a 47-41 lead. Following a BU three (17:01) to cut the lead to 47-44, ETBU extended the lead to eleven at 55-45 with a layup by Brown (16:44), a
Westin Riddick three pointer (16:10), and free throws by Dooley (15:32) and Whitley (14:57). The biggest impact from ETBU's second half came from Taylor, who would score 14 of ETBU's 16 points in a span of over three-and-a-half minutes (11:39-7:59) and give ETBU an 80-61 lead. ETBU would soon hit their biggest lead of the game at twenty-two points (88-66) on a layup by Brown (5:10). BU would cut the deficit as close as 90-76 with 2:39 to play. But ETBU would finish out the game with a 7-2 run in the final minutes preserving the 97-78 victory.
ETBU will be on the road this Saturday battling Louisiana College in Pineville, La., at 4:30 PM.
