THE LEAD
The Dallas Baptist University Men's Basketball team lost to St. Mary's, 69-65, on Monday evening at the Bill Greehey Arena in San Antonio, Texas. Patrick Burke and Amari Bryant led the Patriots with 15 points apiece, but could not prevent DBU from surrendering a double-digit halftime lead.

Burke also led the team with 13 rebounds while Xavier Ledet joined Burke and Bryant in double-figures with 10 points of his own. Carter Brown paced the squad with a trio of assists in 24 minutes on the court. 

The Patriots and Rattlers were neck-and-neck from tipoff through the first six minutes of the game before DBU went on a 9-2 run to take a 17-11 lead at the second media timeout. The Patriots continued to dominate through most of the first half, building a 34-18 lead with two minutes remaining in the half. St. Mary's managed to close the lead to 35-22 as the teams head to the locker rooms. 

The Rattlers came out of the break hot, hitting their first three field goals to close the gap to just eight points. After DBU regained a double-digit lead with a Patrick Burke layup that made it 39-27, St. Mary's went on a 12-3 run led by a pair of Robbie Benavides three-pointers, that closed the gap to three points with 14:30 left to play. Coming out of the second media timeout, Burke scored six of the team's 10 points to extend the Patriot lead to 54-47 with 8:26 remaining.

The Rattlers continued to chip away at the DBU lead until Skyler Brooks hit a three-pointer with four minutes left that gave St. Mary's its first lead since the 14:20 mark of the first half. The lead changed sides four times over the final stretch of the game as the Rattlers took the 69-65 lead with 12 seconds to play. Amari Bryant missed the final three-point attempt for the Patriots as they lost their first road conference match of the season.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - Patrick Burke's double-double was his first since the 2016 Heartland Conference Championship Game against Arkansas-Fort Smith, in which he recorded 35 points and 14 boards.
 - St. Mary's recorded 11 points off of seven DBU turnovers in the second half.
 - DBU is averaging 74.0 points per game on the road, while averaging 84.9 points per game at home.

COACH BLAKE FLICKNER - ON TROUBLES IN THE SECOND HALF
"I'm really disappointed in the way we played in the second half. They really raised their intensity and toughness in the second half, and we didn't exceed it. Both sides of the ball were poor in the second half, but particularly we need to see improvements this week in the way we play defensively. We have got to get back to the basics and respond to a little adversity with a quick turnaround.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
11 - Patrick Burke scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half.
10 - Amari Bryant recorded 10 of his 15 points in the first half.
13 - Burke's 13 rebounds tied a team high for the season.

UP NEXT
The Patriots return home to host Rogers State at 7 p.m. on Thursday at The Burg Center.