Men's Basketball Recap (Week 4) - Around the SCAC

Austin College was idle on the weekend as their games against Centenary and Millsaps were cancelled due to icy conditions in North Texas. No make up date have been announced.  

Centenary went 1-0 on the week after its SCAC opener against Austin College on Friday was postponed. The Gents erased an 11-point deficit en route to knocking off Letourneau 68-56 earlier in the week to claim their first road win of the season. Jonathan Blount paced a trio of Gents in double figures with 16 points. Donovan Williams added 12 with 11 points coming from Brooks Pawsat. Caden Cheramie and James Sapp tied for tops on the squad with six rebounds each. Centenary returns to the floor on Saturday, Dec. 14 against Open Bible College.

Colorado College used a 14-0 run late in the second half to break open a tight game and pull away for a 71-56 victory over Johnson & Wales University in its only game of the week last Wednesday. Senior forward Daniel Webb dialed long distance from the top of key with 6:10 remaining in the game to put the Tigers ahead, 53-51. Thanks to some tenacious defense during the next four minutes, it proved to be the last of 11 second-half lead changes. The Wildcats missed their next seven shots and committed four turnovers before scoring on a 3-pointer with 1:37 to play. Senior Chris Lesnansky, who sealed the victory by making four consecutive free throws, recorded his sixth career double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Eleven of his points came in the second half when CC made a concerted effort to rely on its inside game. The Tigers also got a big-time performance from freshman forward Mitch Carter, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the first double-double of his career. Sophomore guard Justin Berardino and senior guard Ryan Milne also reached double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Milne climbed into ninth place on the program’s career scoring list with 1,189 points. Colorado College travels to Greeley, Colo., on Tuesday, Dec. 10, to play Division I University of Northern Colorado at 7:05 p.m. MT.

The Dallas men’s basketball team (4-2) went 1-1 on the week. On Thursday, in Arlington, Texas, the Crusaders lost 82-79 in overtime to Arlington Baptist College. On Saturday, in Irving, Texas, head coach Jarred Samples’ squad bagged a 60-56 win over Millsaps College (Miss.) at the Maher Athletic Center. Dallas will play just once this week, a 5 p.m. game on Wednesday with Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas.

Schreiner was idle this past weekend. The Mountaineers return to action on December 14th as they take on Texas A&M-Kingsville in a home matchup in Kerrville. Currently, Schreiner is being led by senior AJ Myres, who is second in the SCAC in scoring with a 20.7 points/game. Junior Stevan Guerrero leads the ‘Neers with 5.6 rebounds/game to go along with18.1 points/game.   .

Southwestern held Trinity to only 21 first half points but managed just 14 as SU dropped their conference opener 55-47 on Wednesday. The Pirates started the second half well and quickly pulled within three points, 22-19. Trinity stayed just out of reach for Southwestern, however, as SU was never able to get any closer. Southwestern shot 24% from the floor for the game and was led by Michael Cantu who posted his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, both team highs.The Pirates fall to 3-3 on the year and 0-1 in SCAC action and return to the court on December 14th as they play their first of two games in Washington, facing Whitman College. 

Texas Lutheran was led by 25 points from Garrett Wilkins on its way to a tight 69-67 road win over Dallas Christian. The Bulldogs struggled to break away from the Crusaders all game, but eventually built a 10-point lead with under four minutes to play and held on to capture their second road win of the season, already exceeding their total from last year.

Trinity went 2-1 over the past week, opening SCAC play with a win over Southwestern on Wednesday, then splitting games in Chicago, Illinois, over the weekend. Robert Kitzinger led the Tigers with 21 points and 10 rebounds against Southwestern, pacing the team to a 55-47 win.  On Friday night against Albion, Matt Hopper and Matt Selling finished with 12 points each, while Joe Shotland came off the bench with 11 to lead the Tigers to a 70-67 victory.  Trinity led by 12 late in the game, but Albion stormed back with 11 unanswered points to get within one in the final minute.  Kitzinger’s two free throws in the final seconds sealed the win, and he finished with 11 points. The weekend finale was a 66-53 loss at the University of Chicago on Saturday.  The Tigers struggled shooting the ball, hitting just seven field goals in the opening period.  Kitzinger went for 19 points, and was the team’s only scorer to reach double figures, as well as adding five rebounds and three assists. Trinity will play just once this week, hosting the University of Texas-Dallas on Tuesday evening.  The Tigers will then be off until its Trinity Classic Tournament, held December 29-30.