McMurry Sweeps East Texas Baptist
By: Kyle Robarts /McM Sports Information
Updated: January 9, 2010
East Texas Baptist 64 McMurry Men 71ABILENE, Texas – McMurry held off a late rally in the second half by East Texas Baptist and defeated the Tigers 71-64 at Kimbrell Arena Saturday afternoon. Jeremie Hart scored 18 and Jamal Anene added 17 to help McMurry split the American Southwest Conference homestand after Thursday’s loss to LeTourneau.
McMurry led by 20 points with 6:33 left to play, but the Tigers did
not back down. However, there was not enough time on the clock for ETBU to complete the comeback, but the Tigers did outscore McMurry 21-7 in the final 5:55 of the game.
Hart finished 9 of 17 from the field while Anene was 8 of 12. As a team, McMurry shot 40 percent for the contest and 46 percent in the second half. The McMurry defense held the Tigers to a season-low 64 points and the Tigers shot just 39 percent for the game.
ETBU’s Deba Egharevba scored 20 points and James Morman added 16 points and 13 rebounds in the loss. The Tigers turned the ball over 21 times and McMurry converted those miscues into 27 points.
In the first half, ETBU knotted the score at 22 with 2:32 left, but McMurry closed the half with a 10-4 run to take a 32-26 lead before halftime. Out of the gate in the second half, McMurry outscored the Tigers 27-13 in the first 11:33 of the half to build the 20-point lead.
Free-throw shooting helped ETBU climb back into the game in the second half. After hitting 3 of 5 shots from the charity stripe in the first half, the Tigers hit 13 of 18 attempts in the second half. McMurry on the other hand, finished 12 of 24 from the free-throw line.
McMurry improved to 8-4 overall and 6-2 in ASC play while ETBU fell to 5-7 overall and evened its record at 4-4 in league competition.
McMurry resumes play Thursday in Seguin at 7:30 p.m. against Texas Lutheran at it begins ASC West Division competition for the remainder of the season.
East Texas Baptist 51 McMurry Women 66
ABILENE, Texas – McMurry overcame a 29 percent shooting effort by forcing East Texas Baptist into 32 turnovers and holding the Lady Tigers to 31 percent from the floor on the way to a 66-51 victory Saturday afternoon at Kimbrell Arena. LaPorsha Alexander, Anna Berthel, and Kelsey Lindemuth led McMurry with 18, 14 and 13 points respectively.
McMurry improved to 7-5 overall and evened its record against American Southwest Conference opponents to 4-4. ETBU fell to 4-8 overall and 3-5 in league play.
Each team played a competitive first half, however, Lindemuth’s 3-pointer with 2:13 left in the first half broke a 21-all tie and
McMurry looked back leading by as many 21 points in the second half.
The entire game was sloppy for both sides. There were a combined 51 fouls and 52 turnovers for both teams yet there were only 38 combined field goals for the game. McMurry shot 19 of 66 from the floor, 3 of 16 from 3-point land and 25 of 41 from the free-throw line while turning the ball over 20 times.
ETBU struggled even more shooting 18 of 58 from the floor, 0 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc, 15 of 25 from the free throw line and had 32 turnovers. McMurry, as it has done all season, capitalized on its opponents turnovers by scoring 30 points on the Lady Tigers’ miscues.
In the losing effort, ETBU’s Karlee Wilson scored 20 points and had five rebounds. Mardray Wynn came off the bench to score eight points.
Alexander was 5 of 11 from the floor, 8 of 13 from the free-throw line and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Berthel had a season-high five blocks while adding seven rebounds. Lindemuth grabbed six of McMurry’s 11 steals, which was also a season-high for the junior guard.
McMurry returns to action on the road to begin ASC West Division play Thursday at Texas Lutheran in Seguin at 5:30 p.m.
