THE LEAD
Patrick Burke dropped 37 points on 15-of-16 shooting from the field on Thursday night to lead DBU to a 93-85 win over St. Edward's at the Burg Center in Dallas, Texas. Burke made his only attempt from beyond the arc and converted all six from the charity stripe.
 
Julian Miranda joined Burke in double digits with 21 points of his own including three from long range, and he also finished 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Myles Johnson also shot 3-for-4 from three-point range, contributing 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Boy Van Vliet recorded a team-high eight assists, followed by Miranda and Carter Brown with six each.
 
DBU raced out to a 15-4 lead through the first four minutes as the team shot 6-for-8 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Xavier Ledet hit a pair of three-pointers to spark a 10-2 run going into the first media timeout. Over the next two minutes, St. Edward's held the Patriots scoreless and rattled off a 7-0 run to pull within 15-11 behind five points from Sean Watkins. DBU responded by making their next three attempts to extend their lead to 22-13. The Hilltoppers continued their hot shooting with a 19-4 run, led by nine points by James Taylor. The Patriots held St. Edward's to just one field goal in the final five minutes and hit five of their last six attempts to take a 39-38 deficit to halftime.
 
After the Hilltopper lead inflated to 47-41, DBU went 7-for-8 from the field over the next six minutes to regain the lead at 61-57. In that span, Burke made 4-of-4 from the field and Miranda nailed back-to-back three-pointers. Following a James Taylor three to cut the lead back to one, the Patriots rattled off an 8-0 run, capped off by a Burke layup that gave him a new season high of 31 points. Over the next three minutes, DBU was held scoreless while St. Edward's pulled to within two. The turning point in the final minutes came when Carter Brown hit a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock expired to give the Patriots an 84-76 lead with 1:30 to play. Myles Johnson followed it up with another from long range to give DBU a 10-point lead with less than a minute to play, which served as the dagger to the Hilltoppers.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - The Patriots improve to 12-5 in Heartland Conference play, placing them in a three-way tie with Rogers State and UA-Fort Smith atop the standings.
 - Burke's 37 points tie for third all-time in program history with Braxton Adamson (37 vs. Dallas Christian College on Dec. 18, 2010)
 - Thursday's win marks the fifth straight for DBU over St. Edward's. 

COACH BLAKE FLICKNER - ON BURKE'S PERFORMANCE
"He was unbelievable. Made catches in traffic. Julian, Carter and Boy found him. He made some moves easy, but he made some really tough plays. He was amazing. Rebounded the ball. Played tough defense. I didn't give him any breaks today, and he just fought through it. He's a warrior. I'm really proud of him."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
22 – The Patriots, who rank No. 5 in the nation in assists per game (19.6), combined for 22 assists.
56 – Julian Miranda has 56 assists in his last eight games.
3 – In DBU's last four games, Burke has reached 25 points in three of them.
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots conclude the regular season against Oklahoma Christian at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Burg Center.