Men drop to fourth place after 88-76 loss to Ozarks

In a matter of two games the Patriots went from battling for a first place position in the American Southwest Conference East Division to sitting in the fourth and final playoff spot.

The men needed wins against No. 20 nationally ranked University of Texas at Dallas and The University of the Ozarks (Ark.) to get into first place. Unfortunately, the opposite happened when the Patriots dropped both games.

On Thursday, against UT Dallas, the game started off as an even battle. Both teams came out playing good defense and kept one another from building a large lead. The teams traded the lead early on, but the Patriots managed to take a 17-12 lead with 10 minutes to go in the first half.

UT Dallas re-took the lead a few minutes later on a three from Jared Fleming, his only basket of the game.

After the Patriots got the lead back, UT Dallas responded with four quick points in the lane to take 34-32 lead at the half.

The second half started a little slower for both teams. After the two lead changes, UT Dallas took over the lead for good. The Comets switched to a zone defense that the Patriots had no answer for, scoring only two baskets from the floor in the last 10 minutes of the game. The Patriots, however, kept the score within six points, but never got the lead back en route to a 60-54 loss.

“We had no movement on anything they did defensively and I don’t understand why,” coach Kenny Bizot said. “Credit Comets coach Terry Butterfield, he did a great job going to that. We had no answer for it and it hurt us bad.”

Patriots Marlon Hill led all scorers with 13 points while Anthony Reese finished the game with nine points and nine rebounds and Dexter McMarion had 10 points and seven rebounds.

UT Dallas’ guard Jimmy Witten led the Comets with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Ozarks Game

Saturday’s game, the Patriots got off to a terrific start against the Ozarks, taking the lead from the beginning and not giving it up the entire first half. Hill and Hakeem Kareem, along with Reese, came out strong scoring 25 of the Patriots’ first 29 points to help take a 42-28 lead at the half.

Defense also was key in the first half success as the Patriots held the Eagles to 33 percent shooting and out-rebounded them 28-12. However, the tables turned in the second half. The Patriots continued what they started for the first five minutes until the Eagles finally woke up. Ozarks’ Chris Williams and Andre Williams led their team on a 17-3 run that tied the game at 51-51 with just over 11 minutes left remaining.

With about six minutes remaining, the Ozarks took over the lead for good and never gave it up. The Patriots did not make a basket during the last six minutes and chose to foul to keep the score close. However, the Eagles did not miss a free throw inside the last minute, capping off a 14-point comeback by winning 78-66.

The Patriots shot an abysmal 22 percent in the second half, allowing the Eagles to shoot almost 58 percent.

“I thought we were better than what we were playing,” said Ozark Coach Matt O’ Connor. “I just thought offensively we weren’t active enough and we really turned it around with our best motion half of the season. [We were] so active on offense and our decision making made all the difference.”

For Bizot, he said his team just did not meet the challenge of the Ozarks’ defense in the second half. He also said that his team needs to find their scoring that they had earlier in the season when they were winning games.

“We need to figure out why we’re scoring so few points. We need to find a way to move the ball quicker so we can get some more shots and some of our guys need to step up and make shots for this basketball team,” Bizot said.

Hill led all scorers once again with 23 points and Kareem put in a career high 15 rebounds while scoring 18. The two Williams’ for the Eagles combined for 35 of the  total 78 points while also going 6-of-8 from behind the three-point line.

The two losses move the Patriots down to a tie for third in the ASC East with Mississippi College, behind UT-Dallas and LeTourneau. However, due to a loss earlier this month to Mississippi College, the Patriots technically sit in the fourth and final playoff spot with the Ozarks in fifth place, one game behind the Patriots.

The Patriots continue conference play Thursday when they travel to East Texas Baptist University followed by a trip to LeTourneau University on Saturday.