MARSHALL, Texas – After two battle-tested contests at Ornelas Gymnasium, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team will hit the road this week. With American Southwest Conference East Division play winding with four games left, ETBU will travel to Jackson, Miss., for a matchup with the Belhaven Blazers on Thursday, Feb. 7. The Tigers will round out the road trip with a rematch with Louisiana College on Saturday, Feb. 9. Entering this week's round of ASC East games, ETBU has managed an overall record of 11-10 and a conference mark of 7-5.
The Tigers survived two overtime thrillers last week, starting with an epic come from behind win over the University of the Ozarks on Thursday, Jan. 31.
Robby Dooley led an explosive effort for ETBU, scoring 25 of his 33 points in the second half, including recording his 1,000 career point in the 92-85 victory. ETBU followed that up with an overtime win over UT Tyler, 75-70, on Saturday.
Jordan Gray led the Tigers with 17 points in 42 minutes. ETBU stifled the Patriots on defense, holding the team to just 30.1 percent shooting from the field and 21.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Dooley leads in scoring for ETBU, averaging 19.8 points per game on 56.8 percent shooting from the and in rebounding pulling down 6.5 rebounds per game.
Nathan Fontenot ranks second on the team in points per game, averaging 11.5 on 39 percent shooting from the floor. Chris Haynes rounds out the top three, with 10.4 points per game on an efficient 68.8 percent shooting on the season.
Westin Riddick leads the charge in three point shooting connecting on 55 three pointers this season on a 39.6 percent clip.
As a team, ETBU averages 82.6 points per game, while connecting on 47.6 percent shooting from the field, ranking third in the ASC. The Tigers are also third in the conference in three point field goal percentage (37.5%). Defensively, the Tigers are second in the ASC in blocked shots, at 3.9 rejections per game.
The Tigers defeated the Blazers in the first meeting of the season between the two ball clubs. ETBU dominated the ballgame from start to finish, coming away with 95-61 route on their home floor. Both Fontenot and Dooley led the effort with 17 points apiece. Brosnan Cooks added 17 points of his own for BU. Overall, the Blazers are 8-12 and 2-10 in conference games this season. The Blazers boast a 6-4 record at Ruggs Arena. Cooks leads BU averaging 13.4 points per game.
ETBU will finish the road trip with a meeting against Louisiana College on Saturday, Feb. 9. The Tigers pulled off an upset victory over the then top team in the ASC East standings, 94-80, in the first meeting at Ornelas Gymnasium. Haynes was the leading scorer for ETBU, tallying 21 points in 20 minutes played. LC's Kae'ron Baker shared game-high honors with Haynes, scoring 21 points and dishing out seven assists. The Wildcats enter the weekend matchup with an overall record of 15-5 and an ASC mark of 8-4. Devon Washington leads LC with 15.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
As the regular season winds down for the men's team, Head Coach
Brandon Curran has seen tremendous growth in his young team. Here is what he had to say about his team's performance heading into the team's final road stretch of the season.
"I'm thankful that the Lord has used these last couple of games to mature us. We have constantly talked about battling human nature and the flesh. Our guys responded well to adversity this weekend, and my hope is that we continue to trust that the Lord is working even when things aren't going well. We're excited for where our team is headed and we're excited to see how we're going to use that going forward this week," Curran said.
The Tigers will take on Belhaven University on Thursday, Feb. 7. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from Jackson, Miss.
