THE LEAD
The DBU Men's Basketball team saw a second-half lead slip to Lubbock Christian 65-58 as they opened conference play on Saturday at the Burg Center. DBU (4-5) entered the game off a seven-day hiatus where the Patriots hoped to fix some of their offensive struggles they suffered against UTPB last Saturday. Unfortunately, the Patriots shooting woes continued, as DBU was held to a season-low 58 points off 39 percent shooting from the field.
 
Two Patriots eclipsed the double-digit mark, while Patrick Burke led the way with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting and four rebounds. Amari Bryant added 10 points and three assists. JT Harris also had a solid performance notching eight points and grabbing eight rebounds.
 
DBU quickly got out to an 18-8 lead eight-minutes into the first half behind Harris' early eight points. After that, Lubbock Christian started to find their rhythm when the Patriots committed a few turnovers. LCU closed the gap and pulled within five points leaving the score 24-19 with 6:18 left on the clock. The first half concluded with DBU leading 29-21.
 
Burke started the second half dominating in the low post, scoring all seven points for the Patriots in an early 7-2 run, which extended the DBU lead to 36-23. Lubbock Christian cruised back into the game by scoring ten straight points, including back-to-back threes by Marcos Shuster. This created a 36-33 narrow lead for DBU at the 16:09 mark. The Patriots clung to a small lead throughout the half until 5:25 when LCU's Marcus Arrington hit a layup to give Lubbock Christian a one-point lead, 48-49. Bryant quickly fired back with a three-pointer to help DBU reclaim the lead. However, LCU immediately tied it back up and ran away with the game. Lubbock Christian finished the game with a 14-7 run that earned LCU a 58-65 victory.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• This game marks the first time that the away team has won the game in the all-time series between DBU and LCU.
• LCU's leading scorer, Brennen Fowler (14 PPG) was held to just 4-points, while DBU's scoring leader, Myles Johnson recorded just 3-points.
• The Patriots recorded their lowest scoring game in a year, ironically DBU was held to 57 points last year in a loss to LCU.

 
DBU HEAD COACH BLAKE FLICKNER ON LOSING THE SECOND HALF LEAD
"Well they did a good job of taking Burke away.  They double teamed him hard and we didn't find the open man. We did not do a great job attacking the double team, and we just didn't get good ball movement. This caused us to struggle turning the ball over that really hurt our offense, so that's something we have to work on."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
31.03 – DBU's shooting percentage in the second half is the lowest shooting percentage recorded in any half all year
14 – LCU had 14 points off of turnovers, while DBU only had 2.
 13 – DBU led by 13-points in the second half and it's the largest lead of the season the Patriots have seen slip.
5.5 - DBU has dropped 5.5 points per game after the last two games and now stand at 79.9 PPG.
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots are back at home on Monday where they will face Northeastern State for the second time this season. The game will be tipping off at 3 PM in the Burg Center.