FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University men's basketball team (15-11, 5-10 SAC) suffered a 69-67 setback against Southwestern Christian University (6-17, 2-13 SAC) at the Sid Richardson Center on Thursday.
The Rams must have felt they were playing against a stacked deck as four technical fouls were assessed against the home team in the first half including two to their leading scorer
Sam Akano.
The Rams scored the first seven points of the game, but the Eagles came back to snag a 10-9 advantage. SCU's Rishawn Brown drew a foul against
Jerrell Ellis and Ellis was put in quick foul trouble when he received a technical foul for arguing the point.
With 5:58 to play in the half, Akano gave the Rams an 18-17 lead with a high flying jam off a feed from
Demarcus Richardson. Akano was given his first technical foul on the play. Two minutes later, trailing 27-18, Akano was fouled by Brown and the two were both whistled for extracurricular activity after the play. That was Akano's second tech and the Rams' leading scorer who was averaging 30.7 points per game in his last three games was gone with 10 points in just 17 minutes on the floor.
The Rams closed the gap to 33-29 entering the final minute of the period, but SCU closed the half with three free throws to lead 36-29 at the intermission.
The Rams came out firing in the second half and snared a 42-41 lead with a layup from Ellis five minutes into the period.
A deep three at the top of the key by
Merv Lindsay put the Rams on top 53-51 midway through the half, but the Eagles pushed ahead again as Tyler Turner scored five points during a 10-1 run. Another deep three from Lindsay, this time from the right wing kept the Rams alive at 63-60 with 3:12 on the clock.
Unfortunately the Rams were not able to get any closer until
Chris Gracela knocked down a three just before the final buzzer to cap the scoring at 69-67.
For the game, the Rams shot 41% from the field while allowing the Eagles to shoot 43%. The Rams committed 16 turnovers that led to 21 points for the Eagles.
Lindsay led all scorers with 23 points. Gracela finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, but the Rams sorely missed the scoring presence of Akano who finished with 10 points.
Turner led the Eagles with 22 points, while Brown added 12, and Vladimir Nemcock 10.
The Rams will return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Shawnee, OK, to take on Oklahoma Baptist University. That game is scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. start.
Ramblings
- The Rams are now 5-1 all-time against Southwestern Christian and 6-10 vs. Oklahoma Baptist.
- This was Texas Wesleyan's seventh loss of the season by fewer than 10 points.
