CHICKASHA, OK: The Texas Wesleyan University Men's Basketball team (6-4, 1-2 SAC) delivered a 77-73 victory at 7th-ranked University of Science & Arts (9-2, 1-2 SAC) on Thursday.
The Rams snapped a two-game skid with the win over their highest ranked opponent of the season. The Rams, who were the NAIA's preseason No. 1 fell out of the coaches poll after a 5-4 start. Meanwhile USAO was unrated in the preseason poll, but a 9-0 start vaulted the Drovers all the way to No. 7. USAO has now lost back-to-back conference games, finding that once again the Sooner Athletic Conference is fully prepared to make life hard on everyone no matter the ranking.
On Thursday,
Branden Jenkins and
Rob Thomas both had 20+ point nights in a game that saw both teams hold double-figure leads.
USAO jumped ahead out of the gate, taking a 10-2 lead less than two minutes in. Texas Wesleyan's first lead (21-20) came when Thomas buried a three with 6:41 to play in the first half. That sparked a 15-3 run that saw five different Rams put points on the board and left Texas Wesleyan with a 33-23 lead with 3:28 on the clock.
The Drovers cut the margin down to three points, but Jenkins laid in the final basket of the half, and the Rams led 36-31 at the break.
USAO stormed out of the gate again in the second half, running out to a 50-40 lead following a three from Greg Smith with 14:57 to play.
Trailing by seven (60-53) with 5:45 to play, Thomas and Jenkins took over. The duo combined to score 20 of the team's final 24 points.
A triple from Thomas followed by an and-one from Jenkins quickly cut the score to 60-59. The game was tied at 61 and again at 63 before Thomas hit again from long range to finally give the Rams the lead at 66-65 with 1:55 remaining. The lead swelled to six points (72-66), and the Rams held off the Drovers for the 77-73 win.
The game was tight statistically. The Rams outshot the Drovers 48%-47% from the field while the Drovers held a +1 rebounding advantage. USAO turned the ball over just two more times than TXWES. The Rams did not shoot well from beyond the arc (29%), but Thomas was 4-of-7. Texas Wesleyan held wide margins at the free throw line, where they were 12-of-15 (80%) and the Drovers were 9-of-16 (56%), and in bench scoring, where they bested the Drovers 22-9.
Jenkins and Thomas led the Rams with 21 and 20 points respectively.
Dare Brazeal posted 13 points in the win. USAO's Greg Smith led all scorers with 24 points.
Ram fans have one more chance to catch their team at home before the Holiday break. They will host No. 20 Mid-America Christian University in the Sid Richardson Center at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The team will then close out 2017 by hosting Dillard University on December 29.
Ramblings
- Thursday's win gives Texas Wesleyan a 10-9 lead in the all-time series with USAO. The Rams are now 40-37 all-time in SAC play.
- Mid-America Christian leads the all-time series with the Rams 6-3.
- Jenkins is averaging 21.6 points per game on the season. Thomas, who had missed each of the last three games, is averaging 10.3 ppg while his 20-point effort marked a season-high.
- USAO is the first top-10 team the Rams have faced this season. Two of their losses came against then No. 11 LSU-Shreveport who has since risen to No. 2 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll.
