DALLAS, Texas – The Dallas Christian College men's basketball team fell on Friday night in the second day of a three-day home stretch to Baptist Bible College. Trailing by seven at halftime, the Crusaders made a run to get back in the game and seemed to have put its second half struggles aside after the past two home games as they went up by 12 around the midway point of the second half thanks to a 24-12 scoring swing. With a lead has large as 13, it was not enough to keep away the Patriots, who made 15 straight points to eventually go up 73-71 with a little over two minutes left in the game. DCC had an answer to tie it on a layup by
Jairus Allen with 1:58 left, but Bible Baptist tallied the final six points of the game to prevail 79-73.
DCC had to players lead the scoring with the highest point totals in a game this season, as Allen and
Royce Mendez had 20 each. Allen missed a double-double by one rebound. The freshman from Marshall, Texas, shot 9-for-16 overall with a pair of three-pointers and added a season-high three blocks in 35 minutes. He scored half his points in the opening stanza, shooting 50 percent. His brother
Joseph Allen was also effective going 4-for-7 on the floor and carrying seven rebounds to go with his eight points at the time of intermission. Allen finished with a game-high 12 boards.
Mendez erupted for 17 points in the second half, making 6-of-11 shots from the field and 5-of-7 from downtown. The 20 points were a career-high for the second-year, 5-7 point guard out of Fort Worth, Texas. He made all of his three-pointers during that big DCC surge in the second half, including hitting the go-ahead that broke a 43-43 tie and also put the home team up by double-digits for the first time of the game.
The game started out well for the Crusaders, as
Jordan Harris hit a trey to get DCC on the board. Allen had his pair of triples for the game next and a jumper by his brother opened a five-point advantage in the first portion of the half. Baptist Bible got hot with 10 straight points to turn the lead to 20-13. Around the midway point, Mendez found a trifecta and
Joseph Allen knotted the game at 22 at 9:17. The Patriots answered with the next nine points in a row, as DCC did not get a field goal until 4:24 left on a jumper by
Jairus Allen. Down eight with a little over two minutes to play in the first,
Micah Tucker swiped a steal and
Caleb Willis found
Kyle-Jared Malarchar for a layup.
Joseph Allen had a layup on the next DCC possession and then kept his block streak alive with one on the next defensive possession. Willis surprised everyone with a trey to nip the deficit to 35-33 with 1:16 left. BBC would string five points together, including a three-pointer in the final minute to make it a 40-33 halftime score.
Looking to avoid a cold second half like the previous two home outings, including a 42-25 display the night before, the Crusaders used a 9-0 run capped by a layup by
Jairus Allen to grab a 43-42 lead three and a half minutes into the last stanza. Allen had the previous layup and Harris tallied five points to start the run. Mendez had the next 11 Crusader points, with Bible Baptist keeping things close during that span.
Jairus Allen had a block and
Tilyr Hobson found the rebound and was able to break away for one of his signature dunks to open a nine-point spread (62-53). Already having been up 12, Hobson timed an offensive rebound perfect as his leap in front of the rim setup for his third jam of the half. After Baptist Bible split at the line, there were a couple of change in possessions, with the last being a DCC block that created a fastbreak for Willis to open the largest lead of the game by either side at 71-58 with 7:41 remaining.
Deadlocked at 73 after the Patriots made their run and DCC equalized the score at 1:58 minutes left, neither side would get a basket until Tre Flowers had an inside jumper with 37 ticks left on the clock. The Patriots had come up with a steal by Logan McNeley on the play. DCC turned the ball over on the next play with Kyle Cavenaugh getting the theft. Trent McBride split at the free throw line with 14 seconds to keep the score difference at one possession. BBC didn't want to chance a trey, so a foul with eight seconds put the Crusaders on the line. They missed the one-and-one and had to send the Patriots to the line. D'Shawn Coleman hit the front-end of two, but an offensive rebound on the miss allowed the guests to seal the win with two more free throws.
The Crusaders shot 41 percent in both halves to produce an overall total of 41.1. They reached double-digits in made three-pointers for the first time in four games with 11. The team outrebounded Bible Baptist, 50-38, which was a team-high for the season in overall boards. The rebounding difference of 12 matched the highest margin from Ozark Christian College. DCC has surpassed 40 rebounds in all four home contests.
DCC turned the ball over 22 times which led to a 32-9 road team advantage on points off turnovers. The Crusaders held a 22-15 edge in second chance points and got 30 points from their bench. Of course 20 came from Mendez.
The Patriots forced 10 steals, with seven combined by McNeley and Coleman and were limited to 14 miscues. A quintet of players eclipsed double figures in points with Flowers leading the group with 16 points. McBride was right behind at 15. Joel Kleeman, McNeley, and Cavenaugh followed with 12, 11, and 10, respectively. Coleman was the team leader in rebounds with 11.
The Crusaders have dropped five straight countable games with four coming since Sunday to start 2022. DCC in this stretch has played an NAIA opponent, two NCAA Division I teams away, and hosted two NCCAA Division I teams the past two nights. DCC is NCCAA Division II.
Dallas Christian has one more game in this trio of home games and it will be another NCCAA Division I opponent in Ecclesia College. Tip-off on Saturday is at 3 p.m.
"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."
