It's tournament time.
And that means you're going to stick with what's working, and for Schreiner University, it's a heavy dose of Alex Dehoyos, Kamden Ross, Darian Gibson and Jalen Ned.
On Friday, the final home game of the season and the last appearance by Dehoyos in Kerrville, the Mountaineers rallied in the second half to edge visiting Dallas University, 79-75.
The quartet of starters scored 60 of Schreiner's 79 points against Dallas. They also played more than 25 minutes each, with Dehoyos logging 37 minutes.
Dehoyos will graduate but will likely take his final year of eligibility to a Division I or Division II program later this year when he attends graduate school. Dehoyos goes down as one of the best players in the program's history with more than 1,000 career points.
This wasn't a pretty game for the Mountaineers, but it was a historic win. The victory improved Schreiner to 12-4 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play — a university record for most wins by the men's basketball team in a conference season. Schreiner now heads to the SCAC tournament in Sherman next week as the No. 3 seed in the conference.
Depending on how the conference schedule shakes out, Schreiner could play Southwestern, Colorado College or Dallas in a play-in game at the tournament. The winner of that game would play No. 2-seeded Trinity in the semifinals. Trinity has beaten Schreiner twice this season.
On the court Friday, in front of the largest crowd of the season, the Mountaineers trailed 36-25 at halftime, and Dallas would boost that lead to 13 points early in the second. That's when Ned started to take over the game. The 6-foot-2 freshman guard from New Orleans turned in one of his most powerful performances of the season, much of it early in the second half.
Ned hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 10 in the first minute of the second half. Gibson stole the ball on the next play and found a streaking Ned for a layup and a foul. Ned hit the free throw and then immediately stole the ball, converting it into another layup. Ned's 8-0 run cut Dallas' lead to 38-33 with 18:15 left.
AN 8-0 RUN IN PICTURES
Schreiner's Jalen Ned connects on a 3-pointer early in the second half. |
The Schreiner bench erupts after Ned hits a 3-pointer. |
And 1! Ned drives and draws a foul. |
Converting the free-throw. |
The run continues with a layup. Ned scored 8 of his 15 second-half points in about a two-minute stretch on Friday night. |
However, the Crusaders were determined to hold the lead. Every time Schreiner got close, Dallas would answer.
With 5:15 left in the game, Reid Jackson scored on a layup to finally tie the game 66-66. On the next play, Dehoyos hit a jumper to give the Mountaineers a 68-66 lead with 4:28.
It was a lead Schreiner would not relinquish.
Ned's early second-half heroics helped him to a 20-point scoring performance. Ned scored 15 points in the second half. Ross turned in another strong night of scoring and rebounds, with 13 and 11 rebounds.
Dehoyos scored 12, and Gibson added 15.
For more photos from the game, visit: https://thekerrcountyleadphotography.zenfoliosite.com/zg/schreiner-mens-basketball-vs-university-of-dallas
