January 3, 2009
San Antonio – Nick Morey picked up his fourth double-double in his last five games, but Dallas Baptist University pulled away late to defeat St. Mary’s University, 72-67, in Heartland Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena.
Morey (Sr., Belpre, Ohio) hit on 11-of-16 shots from the field to score a team-high 25 points. He also added 11 rebounds. The performance was his fourth 20-plus point game of the season and his fourth double-double in his last five games. Morey was the only Rattler to score in double figures. Curtis Mitchell (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.) and Ronald Tata (Sr., Katy) each had nine points in the loss.
After trailing by five at the half, the Rattlers quickly took control early in the second period. A 16-5 run midway through the half, turned a six-point deficit into a five-point lead. Marlon Smith’s (Fr., San Antonio) driving lay-up with 9:47 left to play gave St. Mary’s a 49-44 lead. Tata increased the Rattler lead to six points at 52-46 with 8:38 left on a three-point play. But the Patriots rallied with back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game and Shelby Lewis gave DBU the lead with lay-up with 7:40 left in the game, making the score 54-52. The Rattlers never regained the lead after that.
St. Mary’s hit on just 38.7 percent (24-62) of their shots in the game and just 26.7 percent (4-15) of their shots from three-point range. The Patriots made 50.0 percent (22-44) of their shots and hit on 56.3 percent (9-of-16) from three-point range. St. Mary’s outrebounded DBU 41-25 in the game.
With the loss the Rattlers fell to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in Heartland Conference play this season. DBU improved to 10-1, 2-0. St. Mary’s will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 8, when they travel to Jefferson City, Mo., to face Lincoln University in a Heartland Conference game at 8 p.m.