Box Score

The Dallas Baptist Men's Basketball Team received double figure scoring performances from five individuals in a huge 73-69 victory over St. Mary's at the Burg Center Thursday night. The Patriots move to 6-9 on the campaign and 3-5 in Heartland Conference action. StMU falls to 12-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play.
 
Redshirt freshman, Myles Johnson, boasted a team-high 16 points to pace a Patriot team that placed a season-high five players in the scoring column with double-digits. Redshirt sophomore, Jonathan Perry, continued to add to his team-leading tally with 14 on the evening. Senior, Remy Ndiaye's, had a huge part at the end finishing with 12 points. Sophomore, Jason Gentry, reached double figures in back-to-back games and junior, Chris Strong, notched a career-high with each contributing 11.
 
Both teams exchanged early layups in the first possession to get on the scoreboard, but StMU stretched its largest lead of the first half with a quick 6-0 spurt.  The scoring stalled to a halt as both squads went nearly two minutes before the next points were recorded. Perry ended the drought with a layup at the 16:16 mark for DBU.
 
Johnson sparked a stretch of seven unanswered points for the Patriots with a pair of free throws. The run was capped by another pair of free throws by Ndiaye to give DBU its first lead of the contest 13-11 with 8:50 minutes remaining in the first frame.
 
DBU relied on eight second chance points and 12 turnovers in the first stanza to knock down key baskets against a much bigger St. Mary's team. The Rattlers took advantage from the free throw line, hitting 14-of-18 for a 78-percent rate compared to 60-percent for the home squad.
 
Out of the break, Dallas Baptist rattled off a 7-0 run to grab a 37-28 lead. After StMU responded with an old fashioned three-point play, Johnson eclipsed double figures in the scoring column for his fourth-straight game on a layup. Gentry drilled a trifecta to open up the largest lead of the night for DBU at 11.  
 
The Patriots would capture an edge by this margin a few times with its final time occurring at the 16:05 mark. Over the next four minutes, the Rattlers sparked an 11-2 stretch that eventually knotted the contest with 12:45 remaining.
 
StMU claimed its first lead since 10:36 minutes were left to play in the first half following a three-pointer from Bryce Smith making it 53-50. The Patriots nabbed back a 54-53 advantage on the scoreboard following a pair of free throws from Strong.
 
Johnson dialed up his third field goal from beyond the three-point arc to give DBU a 60-58 edge with 5:47 remaining in regulation.
 
Kameron Pearce got hot for the Rattlers pouring in a pair of baskets from three-point land to help move the score 64-64 in the ballgame. The pair of long range field goals counted of six of the opposing player's eight points in the loss.   
 
Ndiaye muscled in the next four points for the Patriots inside the paint off of layups, each time giving the home team a narrow two-point lead.
 
With 44 seconds to go until the final buzzer, Marvin Barney missed a key free throw that left StMU trailing 68-67, and the Patriot's best shooter the past two weeks, Johnson, drained a clutch trifecta that put DBU up 71-67.
 
St. Mary's recorded a quick layup to narrow the deficit 71-69, but Perry sealed the upset for the Patriots 73-69 at the Burg Center off two free throws.
 
"I'm really proud of our guys tonight and how they battled and really defended well, Head Coach Blake Flickner exclaimed. "We had a lot of guys that were in foul trouble throughout the game and had to manage that the best we could; especially with having a short bench due to players battling through injuries."  
 
The Rattlers were led by Isaiah Matthews with a game-high 24 points. Binney was the only other player to break double figures for StMU with 15.
 
Each squad shot about even from the floor with DBU being edged slightly 44-percent to 43-percent. After only shooting 60-percent from the free throw line in the first half, the Patriots finished 28-for-37 at a 76-percent average.
 
The Rattlers shot 20-for-29 from the charity stripe, and one of those misses proved costly for the a team that ranked tied for second in the Heartland standings.
 
The Patriots were outrebounded 34-22, but capitalized again on 18 forced turnovers which led to 18 points for the home squad.
 
The eight year head coach sees his young squad starting to show off some of its best basketball. "These last two games we have improved, Flickner praised. "I believe we are starting to see more toughness and discover an identity that will be fun to watch. Saturday poses another good team and challenge for us, and we're looking forward to continuing to improve."   
 
Dallas Baptist concludes its five-game home stand with a 2 PM tip-off on Saturday against Texas A&M International University.
 
"It's going to be a challenge, International has been great having going the past eight games with one loss, which was last week in a triple overtime game to St. Mary's," Flickner stated. "It is going to be a phenomenal opponent and another tough match-up."