Jan. 13, 2009

Final Stats

Dallas Baptist defeated Texas A&M International University 111-104 in a high-scoring Heartland Conference contest on Tuesday evening at the TAMIU Kinesiology & Convocation Building. The back-and-forth contest was tied five times with three lead changes.

TAMIU (4-9, 2-1 Heartland) took an eight-point lead several times in the first half, the final time on two free throws by Antron Pippen with 4:34 remaining that pushed the Dustdevil lead to 43-35. Dallas Baptist (12-2, 3-1) would go on a 20-14 run from that point and TAMIU would lead 57-55 at halftime.

The game was evenly played in the second half before TAMIU built a 95-89 lead on a jumper by Jerante Morgan at the 6:17 mark. DBU responded to its biggest deficit of the second half by going on a 15-0 run to build an insurmountable 104-95 lead with 1:50 remaining in the game.

The Dustdevils cut the lead to 105-100 on a jumper by Derek Barnes at the 1:13 mark but DBU would make six of six free throws the rest of the way to secure the win. For the game DBU made 40 of 48 free throws and TAMIU made 14 of 23 free throw attempts.

Derek Barnes led the Dustdevils with 27 points. Sean Tucker contributed 18 points and Ignacio García finished with 16 points. Morgan, Collins Okafor and Joe Reed tied for the team lead with six rebounds.

TAMIU returns to action on Saturday with a conference game at Incarnate Word. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.