Men's Basketball 2/15/2013 12:13:00 AM

Dustdevils Stifled by McMurry

Box Score ABILENE (February 14) - Poor shooting and a slew of turnovers doomed the TAMIU men’s basketball team on the road Thursday night, as the Dusdevils were thumped by McMurry University 70-49 at Kimbrell Arena.

The Dustdevils shot just 34.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 16 times leading to 30 War Hawk points. McMurry connected on 27-of-50 shots (54 percent) and had six players score at least seven points led by Alfred Perez’s 16.

Johnel Gray and Damal Donaldson were the only Dustdevil players to score in double digits. Gray finished with 12 and six rebounds while Donaldson added 12.

The War Hawks outworked TAMIU in the paint, outscoring the Dustdevils 44-20 down low. The Dustdevils also struggled to get to the charity stripe, managing only five free throws on seven attempts (71.4 percent), while McMurry knocked down 12-17 (70.6 percent)

Gray gave TAMIU its only lead of the game scoring the game’s opening bucket, but the War Hawks tied the game moments later and never looked back. The Dustdevils kept things close early on, but a 12-0 McMurry run capped by back-to-back three’s put TAMIU down 29-17. Two Donaldson free throws ended TAMIU’s four and a half minute scoreless drought, but the War Hawks came right back with six straight points grabbing a commanding 35-19 advantage.

Junior guard Louis Ilton knocked down a three to kick start an 8-3 run to close the half for the Dustdevils, but TAMIU went into the break still trailing by 11 (38-27).

TAMIU missed their first three shots of the second half, allowing McMurry to score four straight pushing their lead back out to 15 points., 42-27. A three ball from Brock Kimball pushed the War Hawks lead out to 20 points, before the Dustdevils fired off a quick seven straight points to trim the lead down to 13, 59-46, with 6:08 remaining.

However, McMurry came right back with four straight points, all at the free throw line, to put the game out of reach with just 4:16 to play. Gray buried a three to trim the lead to 63-49, but the Dustdevils were held scoreless over the final 3:47 of the game while the War Hawks scored seven straight to hand TAMIU their tenth loss of the season, this one a 70-49 blowout.

The loss drops TAMIU’s overall record to 12-10 on the season, but does not affect their conference record which remains at 6-5. The news wasn’t all bad for the Dustdevils, as UT-Permian Basin fell to Arkansas Fort Smith 61-56, giving TAMIU a full one game lead over the Falcons for the final playoff spot with three conference games remaining.

The Dustdevils will now head south to battle St. Edward’s University in another must win conference match up. Tip off between TAMIU and St. Ed’s is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start in Austin.

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