McMurry Sweeps Patriots
November 28, 2005
By Chase Colston
Tyler Morning Telegraph

UT Tyler's men lost its first conference game of the season and the women stayed winless in an American Southwest Conference doubleheader with McMurry Monday at the Herrington Patriot Center.

McMurry overcame solid shooting from UT Tyler to win a high-scoring men's game, 96-91, while the Patriot women never could get going in a 92-77 loss to the Lady Indians.

The men dropped to 1-2 on the season and 1-1 in the ASC, while the women suffered their third straight loss overall and second in conference play.

Both UT Tyler teams will be in action Thursday in a doubleheader at Schreiner. The women's game is set to start at 5:30 p.m., and the men to follow at 7:30 p.m.

MEN

An up-and-down battle came down to the little things - primarily turnovers and free throws for UT Tyler.

The men gave the ball up 25 times, resulting in 33 McMurry points and shot barely 50 percent from the free-throw line, which proved costly at the end.

"The big thing was poor free throw shooting," said Patriots head coach Matt Wallis, whose team made 14 of 27 free-throw attempts. "But we can correct that. We don't do that very often."

UT Tyler held the lead throughout the second half until 3:03 was left in the game, when McMurry's Elijah Bryant tied it at 86-86 with a 3-pointer. A J.R. Williams free throw gave the Indians the lead, and UT Tyler failed to return after Joe Henderson missed two free throws, a jump shot and a 3-pointer, and Patrick Branche missed a jump shot.

Brandon Hobbs gave UT Tyler an 88-87 lead on an offensive rebound, but the Patriots failed to score until McMurry took a six-point lead with three seconds remaining. Brandon Weasby hit his eighth 3-pointer of the game to bring UT Tyler to within three with 1.9 seconds left, but the Patriots were unable to get another shot at the win.

Weasby, who had a dismal first half with just five points on 2 of 6 shooting, kept UT Tyler in the game in the second, hitting seven shots from beyond the arc to lead all scorers with 30 points. Henderson hit his first six shots of the game in the first half, but was unable to score a free throw in the second. He finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.

"(Weasby and Henderson) are a big threat for us. They helped keep us in the game from the guard standpoint," Wallis said. "Our offense was real balanced, but I thought our defense was soft in the paint at times, and we had several opportunities we didn't capitalize on."

Branche and Hobbs both finished with double-doubles, as Hobbs totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds while Branche finished with 16 points and 10 boards.

Tee Jay Void and Rommel Colina led McMurry with 17 points apiece.

WOMEN

By the time UT Tyler (0-3, 0-2 ASC) showed up and the Patriots' shots started falling, it was far too late.

McMurry scored 16 of the game's first 17 points and the duo of Tarra Richardson and Maigen Sawyer helped McMurry put the game away.

"I'm frustrated with our lack of intensity," said UT Tyler coach Terri Deike. "Our chemistry isn't there, and we're not focused. I don't know what is causing it, but that's my job as a coach to find that out."

The lone positive for UT Tyler, which shot 29.7 percent from the field in the first half, came from freshman Sasha Shannon. The post out of Spring came off the bench to score a team-high 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. She came in relief for sophomore Kasey Buggs, who had four fouls by halftime.

"That means I can play her over some of the upperclassmen," Deike said of Shannon. "She's working hard, and that's good to see as a coach. She had a good outing as a freshman."

Unable to score until nearly four minutes into the game, UT Tyler missed five field goals, gave up the ball and missed a free throw before Shannon put the Patriots on the board with a successful second free throw attempt with 16:16 on the clock.

After making seven of its first 10 shots, McMurry allowed UT Tyler back into the game, as the Patriots went on an 8-0 run late in the first half to get within four after a Devon Sudderth jumper. McMurry recorded the next eight points, six of which came from Richardson, who finished the game with 34 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks, just three short of a triple-double.

Despite a vast shooting improvement in the second half (48.8 percent), UT Tyler was only able to get within five at one point during the second half. A 3-pointer by RaTonya Hunter and a jumper by Buggs put the score at 54-49 with 13:50 remaining. McMurry followed with an 11-3 run to put the game out of reach.

Sawyer was hot from the floor, hitting 10 of 16 field goal attempts (4 of 8 from beyond the arc) to finish with 25 points, while Carli Engelke finished in double figures with 10 points. The Lady Indians (3-0, 2-0 ASC) shot 56.7 percent from the floor, including a 62.5 percent showing in the second half.

"We made (Richardson) look like an all-world player," Deike said. "We're not doing anything a championship team should. We have got to play better defense, block out and score."

Sarah Stanley, UT Tyler's biggest threat from three-point land, was unable to find a rhythm and finished with 11 points on 5 of 18 shooting. She made just one trey on seven attempts, and led the Patriots in assists with eight.

Buggs, on the bench most of the game in foul trouble, totaled 11 points and five rebounds.

Men
MCMURRY 96, TEXAS-TYLER 91

MCMURRY (3-1 (2-0 ASC))
Tee Jay Void 7-9 0-2 17; Rommel Colina 7-11 3-5 17; J.R. Williams 2-9 11-16 15; Finlay Brashears 3-8 5-6 12; Elijah Bryant 1-12 8-9 11; Fred Baker 4-13 1-2 9; Cole Dickerson 3-5 1-2 7; Alvin Stevens 2-3 0-0 4; Dustin Faught 1-3 0-0 2; Russell Raymond 1-2 0-0 2; Terence Mirabal 0-1 0-0 0; Dan Jean 0-2 0-0 0; Brison Daily 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-78 29-42 96.

TEXAS-TYLER (1-2 (1-1 ASC))
Brandon Weasby 10-21 3-3 31; Joe Henderson 6-11 4-8 17; Patrick Branche 7-12 2-6 16; Brandon Hobbs 8-10 0-0 16; Ryan Salters 1-3 3-4 5; Elijah Coppock 1-1 0-2 2; Josh Venson 1-2 0-1 2; Mirada Reed 0-6 2-3 2; Kevin Byrne 0-0 0-0 0; Jamal Vanderbilt 0-1 0-0 0; Demetris Blair 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-67 14-27 91.

McMurry....................... 48 48 - 96
Texas-Tyler................... 46 45 - 91

3-point goals-McMurry 5-18 (Tee Jay Void 3-3; Elijah Bryant 1-8; Finlay Brashears 1-4; Fred Baker 0-1; Russell Raymond 0-1; J.R. Williams 0-1), Texas-Tyler 9-21 (Brandon Weasby 8-14; Joe Henderson 1-4; Josh Venson 0-1; Mirada Reed 0-2). Fouled out-McMurry-None, Texas-Tyler-Patrick Branche; Josh Venson. Rebounds-McMurry 40 (Fred Baker 14), Texas-Tyler 43 (Brandon Hobbs 12). Assists-McMurry 19 (J.R. Williams 6), Texas-Tyler 19 (Josh Venson 7). Total fouls-McMurry 23, Texas-Tyler 29. A-451.

Women
MCMURRY 92, TEXAS-TYLER 77

MCMURRY (3-0 (2-0 ASC))
Tarra Richardson 14-19 6-9 34; Maigen Sawyer 10-16 1-2 25; Carli Engelke 5-8 0-1 10; Jennifer Paetzold 3-3 1-2 8; Jennifer Finstad 2-4 0-0 5; Dee Dee Burton 2-4 0-1 4; Kaycee Venekamp 1-6 0-2 3; Symbri Tuttle 1-5 0-0 2; Jabri Butler 0-1 1-2 1; Amber Horton 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 38-67 9-21 92.

TEXAS-TYLER (0-3 (0-2 ASC))
Sasha Shannon 13-25 7-9 33; Kasey Buggs 5-11 1-2 11; Sarah Stanley 5-18 0-0 11; Sha Shead 2-10 3-4 7; Devon Sudderth 3-5 0-0 6; RaTonya Hunter 1-3 2-5 5; Katelynn Denney 2-3 0-0 4; Lorin Cross 0-0 0-0 0; Cerisse Tettey 0-2 0-0 0; Ashli Chandler 0-1 0-0 0; Alex Walls 0-0 0-0 0; Jerinda Watson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-78 13-20 77.

McMurry....................... 42 50 - 92
Texas-Tyler................... 29 48 - 77

3-point goals-McMurry 7-18 (Maigen Sawyer 4-8; Jennifer Finstad 1-3; Kaycee Venekamp 1-3; Jennifer Paetzold 1-1; Symbri Tuttle 0-2; Dee Dee Burton 0-1), Texas-Tyler 2-9 (RaTonya Hunter 1-1; Sarah Stanley 1-7; Sasha Shannon 0-1). Fouled out-McMurry-None, Texas-Tyler-Kasey Buggs. Rebounds-McMurry 36 (Tarra Richardson 15), Texas-Tyler 40 (Sasha Shannon 10). Assists-McMurry 22 (Symbri Tuttle 8), Texas-Tyler 15 (Sarah Stanley 8). Total fouls-McMurry 19, Texas-Tyler 20. A-366.

Basketball Home Page
Athletics Home Page