STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton Men’s Basketball dropped its Lone Star Conference opener 69-61 to Dallas Baptist on Thursday in Wisdom Gym.
DBU outscored Tarleton by 15 in the second half after the Texans held a seven-point halftime lead. Statistically, the Texans out shot DBU 56 percent to 51 percent and were +11 in the rebound column. However, the Texans (2-3) committed 17 turnovers in the game to DBU’s nine, which led to the Patriots outscoring the Texans 20-9 in points off turnovers.
A trio of Texans led the team in scoring with a dozen points: Josh Hawley, Javonte Hopkins, and Isaiah Range. Hawley also added a game-high 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double in five games to open the season.
Tarleton started off well, with leads of 14-7 and 20-13 through the halfway point of the first half. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Hawley and Zach Naylor pushed the Texan lead to 26-19. Isaiah Boling’s 3-pointer put the Texans up by 10 for its largest lead of the game in the final minutes of the first half. Those were the only 3-pointers of the game for the Texans, as they finished 3-16 from behind the arc. Naylor recorded seven points and Boling added four. The Texans led 35-28 at the break.
DBU opened the second half on a 15-7 run to tie the game at 46-all with 11 minutes left. The Patriots followed with a 12-2 run to take a 58-48 advantage with 7:30 on the clock. Tarleton cut the deficit to four with 60 seconds left but DBU scored the final four points to pull away for the win.
Devin Bethely had half of Tarleton’s 10 assists, giving the point guard five assists in three games so far. He also added six points and three rebounds. Clashon Gaffney posted five points and had two blocks while Randall Broddie scored three points.
Tarleton will host Northeastern State of the MIAA on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.
Be the first to comment