Campus News

M BASKETBALL: Tigers cap tiring stretch with fifth straight win

MARSHALL, Texas (2/4/10) – Playing their seventh game in the last 14 days, ETBU muscled its way to a big 67-52 win over rival Texas-Tyler Thursday night in the Tigers’ final home game of the season in Ornelas Gym.

ETBU (11-10, 9-7), in winning its fifth game in a row, moved into sole possession of third place in the ASC East Division standings with two weeks and four games left on the schedule. The Tigers completed their season sweep of the Patriots (11-10, 7-8) with a 1 ½-game lead on UT Tyler and a half-game lead on LeTourneau, which was idle Thursday night.

Thursday’s game wasn’t nearly as close as last week’s contest between the two teams over in Tyler. That game was extended to overtime before ETBU posted the victory, and the win in the rematch gives the Tigers the tiebreaker advantage in the standings.

UT Tyler made things interesting late in the first half, however, after trailing by as much as 12 points. The Patriots closed the half with a nice run that was capped by Hakeem Kareem’s three-pointer just in front of the buzzer that made it a two-point, 29-27 ETBU lead at halftime.

But that proved to be the last bucket UT Tyler would score from the field for nearly 12 minutes of game action. The Patriots missed their first 17 shots of the second half and didn’t score from the field until Brandon Levine hit a three-pointer with 8:44 remaining.

By then, ETBU had opened the half on a 19-2 run that had effectively put the game away. The Patriots finished with a shooting percentage of 26.5 percent for the game, a figure that was helped by a flurry of three-pointers late in the game.

The Tigers, a week after giving up 27 offensive rebounds to UT Tyler, pounded the boards for a 46-35 advantage and cut that offensive rebound figure in half (14).

Senior James Morman, playing his final game in front of the home crowd, finished with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. He also added three assists and two steals.

Jacob Turnipseed added 14 points and six rebounds, three assists and a steal. Deba Egharevba scored 12 points with eight rebounds, and Josh Chambers chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.

Kareem finished as the only Patriot in double figures, scoring 10 points.

The Tigers will now take a much-needed few days off before returning to action next Thursday night on the road at Louisiana College.