University of Dallas Men's Basketball

This past Friday night, your UD Men’s basketball team defeated St. Mary’s University (MN) 75-71 then had to quickly turn it around and play Howard Payne University the following afternoon which resulted in a heartbreaking 67-72 loss. Although the Crusaders went 1-1 on the weekend, many around campus would agree that the team took away more positive than negative; especially from Friday night’s game.

In the highly anticipated season home opener, the men’s basketball team met and even exceeded most expectations. “We were ready to go from the tip. Our coaches had a solid game plan, and we knew exactly what we had to do. The younger guys brought a ton of energy right from the start and even during warm-ups; we knew this was a game we had to win” said team Captain Drew Assinesi (Pasadena, CA / La Salle H.S.) In front of an absolutely raucous, bleacher defying crowd, the Crusaders shot an extremely impressive 53.4% from the field and 38.1% from three point land compared to 40.7% FG and a lowly 13.3% 3PT percentage put up by St. Mary’s. Additionally, the Crusaders out-rebounded St. Mary’s by six, and were able to hold them to only nine offensive rebounds for the game. On the other hand, St. Mary’s was able to take advantage of the poor officiating and put up 25 of 31 free throws while UD uncharacteristically struggled at the charity stripe and shot 5-12 good for roughly 42%.

Junior transfer Tanner Bruffey (Lubbock TX, Home School) was the game’s top performer with 23 points and four assists while teammate Braeton Hightower (Owasso, OK / Owasso H.S.) went 7-12 for 18 points and two assists and team captain Drew Assinesi (Pasadena, CA / La Salle H.S.) finished with nine assists and seven rebounds. Other big contributions came from freshman Aaron Wyatt (Frisco, TX / Prestonwood Christian Academy), and transfer Joe Stephens (Flower Mound, TX / Flower Mound H.S.) who each recorded nine points while freshman Kym Malone (Richardson, TX / Richardson Berkner H.S.)...