DALLAS, Texas – It was a good home cooking for the Dallas Christian College men's basketball team thanks to a scorching offensive performance that led to a season-high in points and the team's first official victory in a 94-67 final over Ozark Christian College on Friday afternoon at Hoops Hysteria.

(Updated Note: This game had an ineligible player for DCC inadvertently play. Due to NCCAA guidelines, this game is now a forfeit and counts as a win for Ozark Christian.)
 
Playing in the friendly confines for the first time in the 2021-22 season, DCC was on a torrid pace by scoring the first 13 points in less than three minutes. The scoring streak reached 16 at exactly four minutes gone by. The Crusaders shot 23-for-40 in the opening 20 minutes and reached 57 points, a best mark in a single-half this season as well. Ozark Christian had reached 31 points by that juncture, which is pretty standard for a basketball half. However, it was difficult to fathom the offensive outburst that had just been witnessed. To put into better context, DCC netted 31 points on a layup by Tyjuan Battles at 12:50 in the opening stanza and the home team had all-but four points through that juncture.
 
"The energy was great. The fans came out to support us and everybody showed love," Nick Erves thanked. "We came out and brought the energy and put on a show."
 
Erves was the team's leading scorer with 17 points, all in the first half. Erves knocked down all seven field goals, a pair coming from behind the arc. He also had seven rebounds and an assist for the game. Tyjuan Battles finished with 13 points, and had 10 in the opening frame. Battles was part of a trio to bring down seven rebounds and one-of-four with at least that amount. Jalen Perez was the other Crusader in double figures for points with 12, as all four of his made field goals were from downtown. Jairus Allen hauled down a personal-high nine boards to go with eight points. Perez and Tilyr Hobson each had nine points in the first half and Hobson joined Battles with seven rebounds each.
 
The DCC starters in the first half logged 62 of the 100 minutes, tallied 39 points, shot 16-of-22 from the field, 5-for-9 from long range, 18 rebounds, and 12 assists.
 
By comparison, the starters for the Ambassadors were held scoreless and off the court in the first four minutes.
 
Hobson got the scoring frenzy started with a layup 15 seconds from the opening tip. After a turnover, Erves had a jumper after an offensive rebound by Jairus Allen. The Marshall, Texas, native dished an assist to Perez for his first three-pointer of the game, and then the two switched with the second-year guard finding him for a jumper to make it 9-0 in less than a minute and a half. Ozark missed three-point attempts on its next two possessions, and the Crusaders fast paced play benefitted with Hobson and Erves going back-to-back on fast break scores to force an early timeout up 13-0. A minute of scoreless action happened, but Hobson would scrap for an offensive board and get fouled for a three-point play. The and-one was good and that capped the 16-0 start, as Ozarks subbed out the entire starting five after. DCC was 7-for-10 shooting from the floor in that span, which included four straight baskets. Two of the made shots during that blistering span were scored on second chance opportunities. The Ambassadors were 0-for-5 in shooting and turned the ball over three times.
 
Bain Callaway II registered the first points for Ozark Christian on a jump shot at 15:43. The home team answered with 10 more points, powered by consecutive trifectas by Erves and Perez. Allen had a layup and Erves finished the run with an inside jumper that was assisted by Jordan Harris. The Crusaders would make 13 of their first 17 field goals, with Battles off the bench hitting a three-pointer and getting a steal that he and Hobson would go back-and-forth on passes until the guard out of Fort Worth, Texas, had the quick basket to give him half of his scoring total in the half within minutes of coming off the bench.
 
"We press the majority of the game and by pressing it gives us energy and by pressing it flows into our offense," Erves explained. "We just got hot at the right time early in the game."
 
Ozark went on its first scoring run of the game with nine straight in a little over the next two minutes to reduce the gap to 18. Back-to-back treys by Battles and Richard Thomas pushed the lead back into the mid-20s. The greatest lead of the half for the Crusaders was 31, after Erves drilled a three to make it 53 points for the home side. He had made a three-point play on the DCC possession before that too to help the team eclipse 50 points. The Crusaders shot 57.5 percent (23-40) and nailed eight three-pointers.
 
The second half saw similar success offensively with the Ambassadors looking to get back into the game. With 8:29 left, Tyler Alarid hit a trey to cut the deficit to 15 at 72-57. That was the closest the game had been since the early run in the first five minutes. That was as close as things got, as Royce Mendez had a good three-pointer to spark a 14-0 run that pushed the lead back to 30. Micah Tucker was responsible for the next five points, including a three his second make. Jason Makayabo had the next shot which was a trifecta. A couple free throws happened and then Joseph Allen had a fast break layup to make it an 87-57 lead with a bit over three minutes to go. Ozark Christian ended its scoreless streak and Kyle-Jared Malarchar responded with his lone triple to have DCC match what was its largest lead in the game at 31.
 
The Crusaders shot 50.7 percent from the field overall, while Ozark Christian was 37 percent. Both teams made double-digit totals in three-pointers, with the Ambassadors finding the bottom of the net from that range eight times in the second. DCC was able to make its season-high 15 three-pointers with seven in the second frame. The Crusaders held a 20-point swing off turnovers at 27-7, and this included an 18-2 difference in the explosive first. In that same half, the Crusaders also outscored their opponent 10-0 on the fast break and overall did so at 18-4.
 
Two keys that DCC had struggled on in previous games this season were making three-pointers and being outrebounded. Today the guard-heavy lineup matched its highest total from the 2020-21 campaign, which was done twice. Both seasons were led by second-year head coach Dwight Coleman. The other category was the boards, which DCC had a season-high 48 and outmatched the Ambassadors by 12. There was also a 32-24 edge on points in the paint for the Crusaders.
 
Perez said the key was taking it from practice and into the game. He said, "Focused on it all week in every practice. Coach pounded it in our heads all week to rebound the ball. Practice from this past week it showed."
 
"We shoot a lot of threes, but we make a lot of threes," Erves stated. "1 through 5 we all have the green light to let it go."
 
DCC had 13 players step onto the court and 12 of them scored. Eight of them made at least one three-pointer. Harris was the lone player not to find the scoring column, but he dished out a team-best five assists which was part of the season-high 28. The Crusaders had 11 steals, too.
 
Dallas Christian returns to the hardwood on Saturday, November 11, with its second NCAA Division I game of the week at Northwestern State University. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
 
"It's a bigger stage," Perez admitted when asked about how it feels playing at the larger universities. "We play the same basketball, it is just a bigger stage, but also a dream come true."
 
"Dallas Christian educates and mentors students to be people of influence engaging in their calling to the work of Christ in the church and in the world."