Tiger Basketball Vs. Concordia

BASKETBALL (M): MARSHALL, Texas (1/5/13) – A hot shooting Concordia University-Texas (10-3/5-1) came out strong shooting 71% from beyond the arc in the first 10 minutes of the game as they held onto a win over host East Texas Baptist University (6-7/2-4), 87-82. Concordia-Texas finished shooting just 34% from the arc but made their first four three-pointers of the game to take a 14-point lead early on.

"We didn’t play well early and Concordia came out on us hard from the beginning. We tried to join the battle later and every time we made a mistake they made us pay for it,” says head coach Bert West. "The second half we joined the fight early on in the second half and made a game of it. Our kids played hard but we need to play our ‘A’ game when you play a quality team like that.”

ETBU was down by as many as 20 in the first half before battling back to within 13, 53-40, at the break. Concordia-Texas shot 48% from the floor and 41% from beyond the arc in the first half.

Three players reached double figures from ETBU as Kerry McClahan finished with 14 points. He was followed by Monty Gray’s 12 points and Chris Collins 11 points. Concordia-Texas’ Dewaynen Patterson led all scorers with 26 points.

Cutting the lead down to six, 61-55, with 12:34 left in the game, ETBU fought hard to the end. They were down 17, 57-40, when they went on the 15-3 run over six minutes. Junior Mitchell started the run as five different player scored in that six minutes. That is as close as ETBU would come the rest of the game until Grays hit a three-pointer with four seconds left in the game to pull ETBU within five.

ETBU turned the ball over 31 times that turned into 31 Concordia-Texas points but did grab 10 more rebounds than Concordia-Texas, 43-33. Overall, ETBU shot 50% from the floor and 26% from three-point land but only made 64% of their free throws. Concordia-Texas finished with 40% from the floor, 34% from the arc, and 72% from the stripe.

ETBU travels to Texas-Dallas on Thursday to open ASC East play at 7:30 p.m.



Late Run from CTX Does in ETBU

BASKETBALL (W)): MARSHALL, Texas (1/5/13) – A game that featured leads on both ends of the spectrum came down to the final six minutes of the game where East Texas Baptist University only scored three points as Concordia University-Texas finished on an 11-3 run to pull away with the American Southwest Conference win, 64-56. In that six minutes, ETBU only made one bucket at the 2:35 mark with the final point coming on a free throw with 20 seconds left.

The loss ends ETBU’s four game winning streak as they are now 9-4 and 4-2 in the American Southwest Conference.

"I’m very pleased with our effort today as we battled back from adversity all afternoon. This team is resilient and won’t quit. I am proud of that,” says head coach Dustin Howard. "We just couldn’t get the big bucket down the stretch. We have had different players make big buckets for us all year but we just couldn’t get the one we needed today.”

With 5:57 left in the game, April Leonard hit her only bucket of the day to tie the game at 53. That would be the final bucket by ETBU until the 2:35 mark when Adaeze Elonu banked in a layup off a steal to put ETBU within two, 57-55. In the final six minutes, ETBU was within reach of the lead until the last minute when Concordia-Texas went 4-of-4 from the foul line to push their lead to nine, 64-55.

Elonu’s 16 points was a career high for her along with her four steals to lead ETBU as the only player in double figures. Mary Slaughter finished with 11 rebounds and two steals. Jaimie Kadlecek added nine points while Morgan Eddleman hit two three-pointers for eight total points. Paige Parrish led all scorers with 17 points for Concordia-Texas.

It looked as though Concordia-Texas was going to run away with the game early on as they jumped out to an 11-point lead, 16-5, in the first nine minutes of the game. ETBU did not break the double digits figure until the 9:43 mark on an Elonu shot.

With 7:34 left in the half, Concordia-Texas still was holding onto an 11-point lead, 24-13. ETBU started to find their offensive rhythm at this point and finished the half on a 13-5 run for a three-point lead at the half, 29-26. An Elonu three-pointer started the run with 6:46 remaining and then Kadlecek cut the lead to six on a layup. At the 5:16 mark, Eddleman hit a three-pointer to pull within three, 24-21.

After Concordia-Texas hit two free throws to make it a five-point game, Slaughter banked in a layup with 4:06 left. Almost a minute and half later, Morgan Garrett canned a three-pointer to tie the game at 26 with Amanda Rucker finishing the run converting a three-point play for the three-point lead, 29-26, with 2:19 left play. Neither team could find the basket in the final two minutes of the half as ETBU took the momentum with them to the locker room.

For the first six minutes of the second half, ETBU kept their lead. Elonu added to her career-high 16 points with a bucket at the 13:09 mark for a three-point lead, 43-40 and then made a free throw with 13:04 left for a four-point advantage. Concordia-Texas responded with a 7-0 run to take a three-point lead only to see Eddleman hit her second three-pointer of the day to tie the game for the third time at 47. Concordia-Texas would take a four-point lead, 53-49, but ETBU fourth back and tied the game at 53 on buckets by Slaughter and Leonard. The bucket by Leonard was the final one by ETBU until the 2:35 mark and the damage was done by then.

Concordia-Texas grabbed 50 rebounds to ETBU’s 39, but had 25 turnovers. They shot 39% from the floor and only 52% from the stripe making just 30% of their three-point shots. ETBU didn’t fair any better making just 28% of their shots overall.

ETBU will travel to Richardson, Texas, on Thursday, January 10th, to face Texas-Dallas in the start of ASC East play.