THE LEAD
Dallas Baptist University Men's Basketball team won in a tight matchup over Rogers State, 74-69, on Thursday evening at the Burg Center in Dallas, Texas. DBU had four players score in double-digits, led by Myles Johnson with 14 points and 13 points apiece from Amari Bryant and Patrick Burke. Burke also pulled down seven boards.
 
Julian Miranda contributed 10 points and knocked down five important free throws in the second half. While Xavier Ledet added nine points and a team leading 10 rebounds.
 
The first half displayed some chaotic basketball as both teams struggled with fouls and shooting from the field. The half started slowly as the first points did not get recorded until the 17:57 mark when Boy Van Vliet hit a jumper for DBU. Burke tallied eight quick points for the Patriots within the first five minutes of the game to give DBU a 13-3 early lead. Burke had to exit the half early due to picking up two quick fouls. This caused the DBU offense to hit a stalemate in the half until 10:35 when Miranda completed an electrifying four-point play to give the Patriots a 17-7 lead. Roger State climbed back into the game with an 11-0 run behind the scoring efforts of JD Tisdale and DBU's poor shooting. DBU shot 22.9% from the field in the first half and committed fourteen fouls. Roger State capitalized on it as they went 19-23 from the free-throw line and surpassed the Patriots with a 28-32 halftime lead.
 
DBU came out of the locker room on a mission and orchestrated an 11-0 run behind Ledet who was responsible for six of those points. After the Patriots reclaimed the lead at 39-32, Roger State came back with seven straight points and eventually inched their way into a 41-44 lead of their own. Bryant and Johnson then knocked down two big time threes to help DBU to a 10-0 run and 51-44 lead with 9:22 remaining. Johnson struggled from the field in the first half but his eleven points in the second half were instrumental for the Patriots success. Roger State's Travis Hester hit four late three-pointers to close the gap 69-67 with 57 seconds remaining. The Patriots held on to the lead by hitting their late free-throws and earning a 74-69 win.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU went on 11-0 run to start the second half after struggling in the first half.
- DBU had their worst shooting half of the season by going 22.9% from the field in the first half.
- Patrick Burke surpassed Dwight Coleman with two offensive rebounds tonight to make him DBU's sixth best career offensive rebounder with 114. 

 COACH BLAKE FLICKNER – ON BATTLING THROUGH STRUGGLES
"Sometimes you have to grind when your offense is not clicking and your shots are not falling like they normally do. We won a game and we weren't the best offensively that we want to. We made some stops, we finally took some charges there, which I thought was really big."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
11 – Johnson scored 11 of 14 points in the second half
36 – Most free-three attempts in a game all season for DBU
12 – Roger State's Travis Hester scored 12 of his 15 points under the three-minute mark of the second half
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots are back at the Burg Center on Saturday against UA Fort Smith with a tip-off time set at 2 PM.