OLATHE, KS: The Texas Wesleyan University men's basketball team (4-0) took a 74-67 win over Sterling College (2-3) on Friday. At 2-0 in the tournament the Rams won MidAmerica Nazaren Univeristy's Jeff Uphaus Memorial Classic.
Sterling ran out to a 10-0 lead before the Rams finally cracked the scoreboard with a three-pointer from
Merv Lindsay. Another trey from
Sean McLean and a fast break layup from
Sam Akano put the Rams right back in the game at 10-8.
Midway through the first half a steal from McLean led to a quick layup from
Jerrell Ellis and sparked a run of 11 unasnwered points that put the Rams on top 22-16. The Knights worked back to tie the game at 27-27 with 5:48 to go, but the Rams allowed only one more basket on their way to a 35-29 lead at the break.
The momentum stayed with the Rams coming out of the locker room as they stretched the margin to 14 points at 47-33. Sterling was able to cut that margin down to four points at 63-59 with 3:25 to play, but the Rams were able to hold the Knights at arm's length for the remainder of the contest on their way to the 74-67 victory.
For the game, the Rams outshot the Knights 44.6% - 39.3% from the field and led 36-32 in rebounding. The Rams dominated the paint where they outscored the Knights 33-14. Turnovers were nearly even at 13 for Sterling and 10 for Texas Wesleyan, but the Rams turned those miscues into 26 points while the Knights managed just 10 points. The Texas Wesleyan bench also continued to dominate their opponent, outscoring the Sterling reserves 18-12.
"I'm tremendously proud of the team this weekend," commented head coach
Brennen Shingleton. "We played better each day. Sam [Akano] had his best game on both ends of the floor today, but ultimately the energy of the entire team on the defensive end changed the outcome of this game. We learned some stuff about our team this weekend, and I'm really proud of their progress. This was a team win today, and we are looking forward to continuing this process."
Akano led the Rams with 25 points while hitting 4-of-8 three point attempts. Ellis added 16 points and McLean added 13 to the winning effort.
Sterling's Brandon Givens led all scorers with 28 points while hitting 7-of-12 from long range. Braden Thompson finished with 14 points for the Knights.
The Rams will return to action on Thursday, when they host Dallas Christian College. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start in the Sid Richardson Center.
Ramblings
- 4-0 is the best start for the Rams since the 2010-11 team went 11-0 to start the season.
- The Rams are 6-0 all-time vs. Sterling and 5-0 vs. Dallas Christian.
