Big Second Half Pushes 'Roos Past Bulldogs

SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College men's basketball team poured in 49 second half points to pull away from the visiting Texas Lutheran Bulldogs on Friday evening, coming away with an 82-70 victory in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play.

Joshua Joe scored 22 points and Tristan Dick added 20, coming up just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Kidus Getenet added 13 points, and Jordan Hudgins hauled in 14 rebounds and dished out six assists in the win. The 'Roos led by as many as nine points in the first half after a triple from Joe made it 22-13, and another trey from Joe gave Austin College a 25-18 lead with 6:43 left before the break. TLU chipped away at the margin down the stretch before pulling even at 33-33 heading into the locker room.

Dick scored six straight points to open the second half and make it a 39-33 game, and the lead grew to double-digits on a breakaway dunk by Ethan Pearce to make it 54-43 with just over 12 minutes left in the game. The Bulldogs cut it to four at 64-60 with 5:28 remaining, but Dick knocked down a triple to get the margin back to seven. Four straight points by TLU made it a three point game with 3:23 left before the 'Roos took control in the final minutes, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-6 to close out the game and lock up the team's 10th win of the season.

Joe was 6-of-8 from the field, including making all three of his three point attempts, and also hit 7-of-10 free throws. He also handed out five assists and grabbed five rebounds. Dick made 7-of-13 shot attempts to finish with 20. Ocie Berry came off the bench to chip in nine points for the 'Roos, who shot 49.1% as a team compared to a 33.9% performance by the Bulldogs. Easton Allen had 16 points and 10 boards for Texas Lutheran. Austin College will be hoping to add another to the win column on Saturday, when they host another SCAC foe in Southwestern University.