FORT WORTH, TX: The No. 1 Texas Wesleyan University Men's Basketball team (5-2) survived a wild contest with Jarvis Christian College (1-5) at the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday. Both teams held double-figure leads in the game before the Rams prevailed 72-70.
The Rams were in control in the early going, but a technical foul on
Branden Jenkins sent the Rams' leading scorer to the bench where he remained for the remaining 14:29 of the first half.
Questionable officiating marred an otherwise exciting contest. Four technical fouls were issued between the two teams while officials blew their whistles on a whopping 50 infractions in the game. TXWES'
Jeremy Crane was issued a tech after receiving an elbow to the head during a scramble for a loose ball, and Jarvis' Chasten King was inexplicably tagged with a tech while conversing with his coach after a referee forced him to sub out of the contest against his head coaches' wishes.
The Rams led 13-4 when Jenkins exited. The Bulldogs immediately found a groove behind the hot hand of Dion Malone, who went off for 18 points while hitting 5-of-8 long range shots in the first half. Malone's performance sent the Bulldogs streaking past the Rams as Jarvis led by as many as 11 points on their way to a 37-27 advantage at the break.
Jarvis bombed away from beyond the arc in the first half, taking only four attempts and making only one from inside the arc while hitting 8-of-21 long-range attempts. In the second half, they were limited to just 3-of-14 (21%) from three-point range.
With Jenkins back on the floor in the second half, the Rams began chipping away at the deficit. A layup from
Curtiss Anderson put the Rams on top 53-52 midway through the period. That came during an 18-2 run in which Jenkins and
Jeremy Crane each contributed seven points. The barrage lifted the Rams to a 64-54 lead with 6:51 to play.
With just over five minutes to play, Jenkins was issued a second technical foul and made his way to the locker room. That opened the door for the Bulldogs who came all the way back to tie the game at 68-68. The Rams got big buckets from Anderson and Crane while forcing five misses by the Bulldogs in the closing minutes.
Anderson was a force in the lane throughout the contest, posting season-highs with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Jenkins scored 16 points in just 21 minutes, and Crane added 17 points to the victory.
Sam Smith also earned a start in the game and put up nine points, six assists, and four rebounds.
After scoring 18 points in the first half, Malone was held to just three points in the second half while going 0-for-4 from three-point range.
The Rams outshot the Bulldogs 48%-34% from the field, but Jarvis outscored Texas Wesleyan 33-12 from long range.
The Rams will now embark on a three-game road trip in Sooner Athletic Conference play, beginning with a game in Plainview, TX, against Wayland Baptist University on Thursday. That game is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. start.
Ramblings
- This was the final game of a six-game stretch against teams from the Rams' former conference, the Red River Athletic Conference. Texas Wesleyan went 4-2 in that stretch with both losses coming against No. 11 LSU-Shreveport.
- Texas Wesleyan leads the all-time series with Jarvis Christian 21-13.
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Curtiss Anderson's previous season-highs were 16 points and 10 rebounds. Through seven games, he is averaging 12.7 points and 8 rebounds per game.
