DALLAS, Texas – The Dallas Christian College men's basketball team competed well against NCCAA Division I Ecclesia College on Saturday afternoon. It was an even game throughout with both squads playing a quick pace throughout the entire contest. However, the Royals got the final three points at the free throw line and were able to stop DCC from scoring in a difficult 73-70 setback.
 
This game saw 15 lead changes and 17 ties with Ecclesia gaining the lead eight times and forcing a tie nine times. Both teams had eight fast break points with six in the first half and two in the second. Points in the paint were even at 28. The only areas of glaring difference were second chance points, which the Crusaders held a 22-7 advantage thanks to 19-7 in the last 20 minutes. The DCC bench also put in 27 points, with 21 in the opening stanza. The largest lead by either side was seven, which was DCC just over four minutes into the second half. Ecclesia only led by its greatest amount of six in the later stages of the first half.
 
Wire-to-wire these teams competed and traded blows throughout. Even down 36-30, a trey by Jalen Perez would cut the deficit in half on the next play. Royce Mendez then hit a triple to knot the score at 36. Mendez, who hit 5-of-7 three-pointers the previous night en route to a career-best 20 points, would continue his phenomenal shooting by hitting the first four trifecta attempts in this game. He had all 12 points from three-point field goals and was 4-of-6 by halftime.
 
The Crusaders would score six of the next eight points after being tied at 36 to open a 42-38 lead. Ecclesia got two free throws and an old fashioned three-point play by Jaquan Dotson to go up 43-42 into halftime.
 
After strong offensive displays in the first 20 minutes, things were difficult on both sides the first minute and a half. The Royals went up two on a free throw, and Jairus Allen hit a jumper for the first field goal of the half two minutes in. DCC registered the next nine points including that, as Tilyr Hobson had an offensive rebound lead to a basket and then Tyjuan Battles got a block and took on a fastbreak layup. Jordan Harris capped the team's longest run of the game with a triple. Ecclesia had a three-point play by Dotson shrink the score to 51-47, but Joseph Allen countered with the next points for DCC at 14:07. Three free throws reduced the lead to one, but a trey by Battles fell to push the lead back out. Jason Makayabo had a layup with 12 minutes left after he got blocked initially to stretch the score to 58-53. A quiet spell over the next two minutes occurred until the Royals got a layup by Wisdom Kowouto. Zachary Mcgee tied things at 58 on a triple and then Dotson capped seven consecutive points for the visitors to make it a two-point lead with nine minutes to go.
 
Makayabo made the first-of-two at the free throw line and then Caleb Willis tipped an offensive rebound to find a torrid hot Mendez for a trifecta. Leads traded with four-point runs by both sides, as Jairus Allen and Hobson answered with consecutive layups to put DCC up 66-64 with 6:12 left. Kowouto had a jumper seconds later to level the score at 66. A little over a minute later, Ecclesia went on top by two, but Hobson tied things at 4:08 on an offensive rebound and put-back. Joseph Allen rose on a tip-in following his miss at 3:21 to lift the Crusaders a final time at 70-68. The next play had an answer for the Royals with a layup by Meron Ghebreyesus with about three minutes to go. Only three points were tallied over that entire span and DCC missed the next five shots and had a turnover, while Ecclesia also had five missed shots and a turnover. There was a foul with just over a minute on Kowouto, who made the first of two at the charity stripe. He missed the second free throw attempt, but DCC could not get a defensive rebound, despite outdoing the Royals by 10 at that juncture. Luckily there was a missed shot and DCC had the ball with 45 seconds. The next shot by Mendez was blocked 22 seconds later and Ecclesia was fouled again. Kowouto this time was true at the line with both. In the last two attempts, the Royals clamped down defensively and only a three by Jairus Allen was attempted and missed the mark in the closing seconds.
 
Mendez cooled down in the second half, but finished with a team-high 15 points and was still 5-for-11 from deep. The point guard made half of DCC's 10 three-pointers, which now gives the team back-to-back games in double-digits from making shots from three-point territory. Hobson achieved his first double-double of the campaign with 10 points and matched a personal-best 14 rebounds. He last had 14 boards a season ago versus Oak Hills Christian in the ACCA Tournament on March 2, 2021. Hobson did have 13 balls off the glass in a home matchup with Ecclesia in the 2020-21 season, but that game did go beyond regulation. He had a double-double in both of those outings.
 
Jairus Allen was second on the team in points with 12. He had four rebounds and two steals, while his brother Joseph Allen rounded out the quartet of double-digit scorers by eclipsing the feat with 10 points and missed a double-double by two rebounds. The freshman added two blocks to extend his streak in countable games to eight and all contests to 11. This includes NCAA Division I opponents: Tarleton State University, Northwestern State University, and Texas A&M University. Tyjuan Battles also nearly garnered a double-double by having 10 rebounds and eight points. The sophomore guard listed at 6-1 would produce three blocks and was one-of-three players with three assists.
 
The Crusaders shot 31.4 percent overall, getting 86 shot attempts. They made the most of their free throws, hitting 6-of-8. The Crusaders did achieve a game-high 58 rebounds on the season and remain above 40 in that category at the home confines. The Crusaders improved from previous games and only committed 14 turnovers, which was two more than Ecclesia.
 
Ecclesia shot 35.2 percent from the floor and were 7-for-28 from three-point land. The Royals cooled off from there after hitting six in the first half. They did go 16-for-22 at the free throw line. Dotson was the standout of the game with 31 points, 12 rebounds for a double-double. He added three blocks, two steals, and made all nine free throws. Ghebreyesus and McGee contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Kowouto had 11 boards and eight points. The Royals were outdone on the boards with 49, but did swipe 10 steals and managed nine blocks.

The Royals improved to 8-4 overall and had some convincing wins over fellow NCCAA Southwest Regional opponents like Randall University (94-80) and Champion Christian College (94-72). They also blew out Baptist Bible College by 20 points, which DCC had just fallen to the other night by six points. So it was an encouraging result to see the Crusaders compete throughout the 40 minutes today.
 
Dallas Christian College falls to 1-8 overall, but look forward to over a week off and will play an NCCAA Southwest Regional foe. It will be a home game with crosstown rival Arlington Baptist University. The game is set to begin around 7:30 p.m. after the women's game starts at 5:30 p.m.
 
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