Men’s basketball splits weekend

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The University of Dallas men’s basketball team held a pair of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference  (SCAC) matchups this past weekend against Colorado College and Johnson and Wales University. The pair of Colorado schools came to the Maher Center where the Crusaders had won three straight games.

“It’s always a critical weekend when you get two home SCAC games,” junior guard Mike Wambsganss said. “We were just trying to get back to playing our brand of basketball. We had the mindset to play the way that we wanted to for two complete games and to protect our home court here.”

On Friday evening, UD dominated the Tigers by a score of 70-49. The Crusaders held CC to only 15 points in the second half.

Wambsganss led the scoring for Dallas with 17 points, adding five rebounds and two assists. Junior forward John Russell collected nine boards in the win, and sophomore guard Josh Nunn dished out a team-leading four assists.

Dallas shot 45.5 percent from the floor, and are unbeaten when shooting 45% or better this season.

After the blowout win, Dallas faced Johnson and Wales the following afternoon. The visitors took advantage of 18 UD turnovers to win the contest 78-68, despite being outscored by the Crusaders in the second half 35-34.

Nunn led Dallas in points and assists with 22 and four, respectively. Junior forward Ben Norton collected the most rebounds on the team with 11.

“Saturday after the loss as a team we just have to forget about it. At that point there’s nothing to be done,” said Russell.

Dallas comes into the new week with a 7-11 overall record and an even 5-5 record against conference opponents.

“The mindset going into every game is that the one we are playing next is the most important game of the season,” said Russell. “It takes all 20 guys on the team to be successful.”

The Crusaders head to Austin College for another conference matchup on Tuesday, Jan. 29  and return home to face Southwestern Adventist University on Saturday, Feb. 2 for the beginning of a four-game homestand.

Three of those four games will be against SCAC opponents.

“With these last stretch of conference games coming up we are just looking to take advantage of each game we’re given, playing the way that we want to,” said Wambsganss. “We hope to finish the regular season strong and head into the SCAC tournament with a good team rhythm.”

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