March 4, 2010

Final Stats

Boosted by a strong start to both halves, Dallas Baptist defeated Texas A&M International University 96-87 in quarterfinal round action of the Heartland Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena on the campus of St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

Dallas Baptist jumped out to a 14-2 first half lead before the Dustdevils fought back to cut the halftime deficit to 45-41. Fueling the comeback was St. Paul Latham, who scored 12 of TAMIU's final 15 points over the final four and a half minutes of the period.

Three 3-pointers helped push DBU to a 58-46 lead at the 15:26 mark of the second half. TAMIU cut the lead to seven points three times over the next seven minutes, the final time on a jumper and free throw by Latham that cut DBU's lead to 73-66 at the 8:34 mark.

Dallas Baptist went on an 11-3 run at that point to build an 84-69 lead at the 5:41 mark. TAMIU would battle back to cut the deficit to 86-79 on a dunk by Chris Swan at the 2:01 mark but DBU quickly answered with an 8-2 run to put the game out of reach.

Latham and Luís Gómez combined to score 60 points for the Dustdevils. Latham scored a season-high 36 points with Gómez contributing a season-high 24 points.

Gary Matthews Jr. contributed 10 points and 5 rebounds and Swan closed out his stellar career with 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Both teams shot well, with TAMIU making 26 of 56 field goal attempts (50 %) and DBU making 29 of 53 attempts (54.7 %). The Patriots were more efficient at the free throw line, however, making 29 of 32 attempts (90.6 %) from the charity stripe compared to 21 of 31 (67.7 %) made free throws for the Dustdevils.