McMurry Splits With Letourneau
By: Kyle Robarts/McMurry Sports Information
Updated: January 7, 2010
Men fall 72-71ABILENE, Texas – LeTourneau’s Cristian Driver hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to help the Yellow Jackets defeat McMurry University in overtime Thursday night at Kimbrell Arena. Driver led the way with 15 points and all five of his field goals were from 3-point range.
McMurry trailed by nine points at half and stormed back in the second and the teams eventually ended up in a 61-61 tie after the Yellow Jackets’ Bo Ostarticki hit two free throws with 1:29 remaining to knot the score and neither team scored until the overtime period.
In overtime, McMurry trailed 69-65 when Ryan Boyd hit a 3-pointer with 1:33 remaining to cut the lead to one point. Will Smith missed a jumper on the other end for LeTourneau and on the next possession Jamal Anene was fouled and made the first of two free throws to tie the score at 69. Then, Jeremie hart hit two free throws with 17 seconds remaining to give McMurry a two-point advantage.
LeTourneau dribbled to half court and called a time out with 13 seconds left. With 1.4 seconds left an entry pass in the post was knocked out of bounds by McMurry. McMurry called a timeout and LeTourneau designed an inbounds play from under its own bucket and Jesse Hayes found Driver wide open beyond the arc, just to the left of the top of the key, and he drained it to give the Yellow Jackets their first ever win at Kimbrell Arena.
Hayes had 14 points and seven assists, Dale Vanwright had 14 points and eight rebounds, and J.J. Rockmore had 11 points and four assists to help lead LeTourneau to victory. Vanwright was ejected early in the second half after striking Robert Moreno in the face.
Hart scored 22 points, had 10 rebounds and four steals while Anene finished with 15 points and seven boards. Steven Luckey scored 13 points and Moreno finished with five points, eight assists and a game-high five steals.
McMurry fell to 7-4 overall and 5-2 in the American Southwest Conference while LeTourneau improved to 6-5 overall and 5-2 in league play.
McMurry will try and rebound with a victory Saturday at 3 p.m. when it plays host to East Texas Baptist.
Women roll 82-54
ABILENE, Texas – McMurry used its best shooting effort of the season to dominate the LeTourneau Lady YellowJackets Thursday night at Kimbrell Arena. LaPorsha Alexadner had 20 points off the bench and McMurry had 23 assists as a team on the way to a 49-percent shooting effort.
The victory put McMurry above the .500 mark at 6-5 overall and moved to 3-4 in American Southwest Conference competition. The Lady YellowJackets were forced into 38 turnovers, which the home team turned into 39 points and gave LeTourneau no chance to compete for the win.
LeTourneau suffered 24 turnovers in the first half, which McMurry turned into 22 points and the home team shot 53 percent in the first frame thanks to a dozen points off the bench from Alexander. Alexander scored with 12:11 left in the first half to make the score 19-10, but then LeTourneau hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut the McMurry lead to
three. However, from there McMurry would close the half with a 23-8 run and led at half 43-24.
The Lady YellowJackets played it closer in the second half, however, McMurry still managed to outscore the visitors 39-30 in the second half. Kelsey Lindemuth joined Alexander off the bench as the only other McMurry player in double figures with 11.
The McMurry defense collected 20 steals and four blocked shots. Alexander had six steals while Rikeita Thomas had four. McMurry’s balanced scoring attack saw 11 different players record assists while Amanda Peters and Hailey Stacy each had four apiece.
Kayla Kerns scored 14 points, April McCamey had 12 and Colleen Redmond had 10 points in the losing effort for LeTourneau. The Lady YellowJackets, despite ball-control issues, shot 42 percent from the floor. However, the loss drops LeTourneau to 3-8 overall and 3-4 in ASC competition.
McMurry returns to action Saturday at 1 p.m. when it plays host to East Texas Baptist at McMurry’s Kimbrell Arena.
