IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's basketball team (14-7, 5-6 SCAC) defeated Colorado College (12-11, 6-6 SCAC) on Saturday night, 65-59. It is the second win in a row in just as many nights for the Navy and White, which was the second time this season for that; along with the first time against conference foes. UD moves to 3-0 versus league opponents at the Maher Athletic Center on Saturdays.
Things were tightly contest throughout most of the first half with CC building a small margin ahead after about five minutes had ticked away. Sophomore Tom Kaiser (Nashville, Tenn.) rallied the Crusaders back to a 13-all game with six-straight points, his final total. Senior Aaron Wyatt (Frisco, Texas) lifted UD to another brief lead with his single trifecta of the affair.
The final 6:55 of the opening stanza belonged to the Navy and White, as the home squad mustered an 11-3 run to post a halftime result of 36-26. The largest lead of the night was 13 with 21 seconds remaining. Juwan Rohan nailed a three-pointer with 10 seconds to nip the deficit back to 10 and ended an 11-point unanswered streak for UD.
Colorado College would tally a 33-29 advantage in the second frame, but fell shy of completing the comeback. Most of the way, it was the Crusaders who kept a couple possession difference despite the Black and Gold's best efforts to eliminate deficit.
The Tigers got within five on a couple of occasions, nipping it 60-55 on a Chris Lesnansky layup with 1:22 in regulation. Dallas connected on its five final attempts at the charity stripe to secure the win and even the season series with CC 1-1. Seven of the last nine points came from the free throw line for the Navy and White.
Sophomore Michael Sarrat (Colleyville, Texas) led all UD scorers with 13 points and went 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc. Senior Blaine Blackburn (Midlothian, Texas) and Wyatt rounded out the trio of double figure performances with 11 apiece.
Blackburn's second trey of the game pushed UD's edge back to nine with 5:49 left helped keep the momentum on UD's side.
Dallas did shoot 47.9-percent from the floor, with 57.1 and 57.9-percent clips at the three-point and free throw line, respectively.
Lesnansky came just shy of a double-double with a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds. He was the lone player in double-digits for scoring. Colorado College earned a 44.2 shooting percentage overall, with 18.3-percent from downtown and a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line.
UD did benefit from 22 points off turnovers and dished out 16 assists, with seven coming from senior Kym Malone (Richardson, Texas), who led the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) entering the weekend.
STAT OF THE GAME
Nine of the Crusaders' 11 shots at the free throw line to find the bottom of the net occurred in the second half. Both teams managed to equal 29 boards in the affair.
NEXT OPPONENT
Dallas will be on the road one final time this season on Feb. 13-14 at Schreiner University and Trinity University, respectively.
