Men's Basketball 3/8/2013 11:30:00 PM

Dustdevils Ousted From Conference Tournament by UAFS

Box Score

FORT SMITH, Arkansas (March 8, 2013) – TAMIU entered this year’s Heartland Conference Tournament hoping to exact revenge on the University of Arkansas Fort Smith for bouncing the Dustdevils in the first round of the 2012 conference tournament. What they got was more of the same.

Despite a furious late game comeback that brought the Dustdevils to within just one point of the Lions with under a minute to go, UAFS was able to hold on for the 63-60 win eliminating TAMIU from the post season for the second straight year.

“We played very hard tonight,” said Head Coach Bryan Weakley. “Fort Smith averages 81 points per game at home; we held them to 63 and had a chance to win at the end. I think it really hurt us that we did not start the second half well, but we were able to battle back and almost get the win. I am so proud of the way these kids handled adversity all year.”

Arkansas Fort Smith will meet St. Mary’s University, who topped Newman University 93-79 in overtime, in a rematch of last year’s conference tournament championship game.

Jake Toupal, who has made a habit of burning the Dustdevils in the post season, once again led the charge scoring a game-high 22 points most of which came at the free throw line. The junior only managed to knock down 4-of-10 shots from the field, but was a perfect 12-of-12 from the three throw line. Friday’s performance marked the thirteenth time this season that Toupal has finished perfect at the line.

UAFS didn’t shoot the ball particularly well (17-of-45, 37.8 percent) and outside of Toupal, no other Lions’ player scored in double digits. What they did do was get to the free throw line. UAFS knocked down 24-29 (82.8 percent) attempts at the charity stripe.

After fighting their way to a one-point halftime deficit (33-32), TAMIU came out sloppy in the second half turning it over on their first four possessions. The Lions took advantage, turning their one point lead into a seven point spread just two minutes in.

Trailing by eight points with less than four minutes to play, TAMIU fired off an 8-0 run to tie the game at 60 with just 47 seconds left on the clock. On the other end the Dustdevils were a step late on their help side defense and fouled Blake Branham with 25 second left as Branham drove baseline. After Branham converted 1-of-2 free throws to give the Lions a 61-60 lead, the Dustdevils pushed the ball past half court before calling timeout to set up the potential go ahead bucket.

Following the timeout, Johnel Gray took a pass from Matthew Culliver Jr. and drove hard down the baseline. Gray wasn’t able to get the look he wanted and instead settled for an off balance jumper that was snatched out of the air by Lions’ senior guard Jalynn Mitchell, who was immediately fouled by Louis Ilton. Mitchell knocked down both attempts to give UAFS a three point edge and Matt Culliver’s desperation look for three at the buzzer was well of the mark as TAMIU’s season came to an end.

Four TAMIU players scored in double digits led by Culliver’s 13 points. Jordan Clark kicked in 12, while Gray and Jayvin Reynolds added 10 apiece. TAMIU shot 42 percent from the field, but struggled against the UAFS zone, connecting on just 3-of-11 three point attempts.

The Dustdevils conclude their season with an overall record of 15-12 on the season.

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