St. Thomas Uses Second Half Surge to Top 'Roos

SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College men's basketball team played No. 11-ranked St. Thomas tight for most of Friday night's game, but an 11-2 run midway through the second half pushed the margin to double digits and the 'Roos were unable to recover in a 70-61 defeat.

The Celts took a 32-26 lead into halftime against Austin College, but the 'Roos kept pace for the first portion of the second half and a bucket by Tristan Dick made it 43-39 with 12:18 left to play. However, that's when UST would start their run, scoring 10 in a row to make it 51-39. Jordan Hudgins halted the run with a jumper, but a three-point-play by the Celts made it a 54-41 game with 8:37 showing on the clock.

Austin College was unable to get the margin back into single digits until a three-point-play from Dick to make it 63-56 with 2:35 left, and a Jackson Rennie trey cut it to 67-61 with 1:10 remaining. That would end up being the last basket of the game for the 'Roos, as St. Thomas put the game away in the final minute of action. St. Thomas outscored the 'Roos 44-28 in the paint, and also converted 17 Austin College turnovers into 25 points while the 'Roos scored just 12 points off of turnovers.

Dick made 9-of-15 shots on his way to 26 points while adding seven rebounds, and Joshua Joe scored nine points and added five rebounds. Calvin Williams IV matched Dick for the game-high with 26 points for St. Thomas.