JOPLIN, Mo. – The Dallas Christian College men's basketball team prevailed 99-94 over the No. 5 Seed Trinity Bible College in the 3
rd Place Game of the bracket on Friday afternoon. The victory gives the No. 6 Seed Crusaders a third place finish over the four-day ACCA tournament that featured 11 teams. The Crusaders went 3-1 overall to match their record in 2020-21, but instead of winning the fifth place game after a second day elimination, they made it to the semifinals and were able to end the last two weeks of a tough campaign at their highest peak.
Like most games on Ozark Christian College's home court and in the ACCA Tournament under second-year head coach
Dwight Coleman, the Crusaders relied on their high power offense to be the catalyst again. The Crusaders eclipsed 50 points by halftime for the second time in the tournament and were able to use that five-point lead at the break to hold as both teams equaled 48 points in the last 20 minutes.
The Crusaders were a blistering 56.8 percent from the field in the opening frame and 48.1 percent overall. They didn't break double figures in made three-pointers but were efficient enough with nine total. DCC was an effective 12-for-15 at the free throw line.
A major contributor to that was Jospeh Allen. The true freshman out of Marshall, Texas, made all seven free throw tries and was second on the team in scoring with 19 points and notched a team-best 13 rebounds for a double-double. In 36 minutes, Allen shot 6-for-10 on the floor and was part of a trio to lead DCC with three assists.
Richard Thomas delivered a career performance with a team-leading 20 points thanks to 7-for-10 shooting and 4-of-6 from downtown in 17 minutes from the bench. Five players surpassed double-digits in scoring with four coming from the starting unit. A quartet of players eclipsed 17 points in scoring which were
Jairus Allen and
Tyjuan Battles.
Jairus Allen dished three assists and had six boards in 40 minutes. Battles had his best game of the tournament with a 7-for-13 result from field goals.
Jordan Harris and Battles were the other Crusaders to have multiple made treys behind Richard. Harris was the other DCC player with three dimes.
Tilyr Hobson rounded out the quartet of double-digit scorers with 12 points.
Two categories DCC dominated in was points in the paint with a 20-point difference of 58-38. The other was on the fastbreak with a 16-4 edge. This included a 14-2 spark in the opening stanza.
Trinity Bible was not scoring as much inside in the first half, but didn't need to when it was raining trifectas with 10 total makes. That dynamic changed in the second half, as the Lions were just 2-of-13 and one came late in the final plays.
Trinity Bible was led offensively by Caleb Philips with 26 points, which was thanks to 8-of-14 shooting from the floor and 6-of-11 from three-point territory. Khalil Bolden added four made treys, while Elvis Perez nailed the other pair. Bolden and Tyrik Ward were a rebound shy of double-doubles with the Bolden scoring 22 points for the second highest in the game.
The Crusaders started with the first two scores, but would quickly see the Lions answer with a trey. After Harris notched a triple for DCC, Phillips drilled his second trifecta of the game. The first three made field goals by Trinity Bible were triples. The lower seed Crusaders kept its offensive streak going as Battles had a layup on the fastbreak, while an offensive board by
Joseph Allen after a missed dunk would find an open Harris for three and extend the DCC lead to seven points (16-7) less than six minutes into action. You had the vibe that this would turn into a high-scoring affair, as the Lions rallied back with the next five points, including a Bolden three-ball to come within two. An 11-2 run would exchange the leads again with Phillips hitting a trio of three-pointers during the surge, which included back-to-back for Trinity Bible to open a 25-21 edge with nine minutes completed.
Jairus Allen sank his one three to stop the momentum and then his brother took off for a big dunk on the next play to propel his team up 26-25. Bolden countered a triple 19 seconds later and the lead traded again. It seemed like for a while that the opposition could not miss from downtown, as a three by Perez opened the largest lead of the game for Trinity Bible at 43-36 with four and a half minutes to go before break.
The final three minutes belonged to DCC with 13 of the final 15 points being scored by the team in gray jerseys to close out a 51-46 advantage. Battles cut a six-point gap in half with a trey and a couple free throws by
Joseph Allen made it a single-point game in 30 seconds. With just over a minute left and down one still, Hobson spun the momentum with his go-ahead dunk on a breakaway. He would then get another fastbreak basket after a turnover by the Lions.
Joseph Allen had the final inside jumper on an assist from Battles with 12 seconds to send DCC into the locker room up five.
Trinity Bible came out ready with the first five points to level the score in 79 seconds, but Battles responded with a triple to keep the lead for DCC. Things went back-and-forth with neither team up more than a possession over the next nine minutes. About midway through,
Joseph Allen had an and-one play to break a 70-all score. After a basket by the opposition, Thomas hit a trey on a pass from
Jairus Allen. A layup by
Jason Makayabo was followed by two more
Joseph Allen free throws to open an 80-74 lead, the largest by DCC at that point.
The Crusaders margin of victory reached double-digits for the first time on a layup by
Jairus Allen with five and a half minutes left. Makayabo hit two more free throws to answer a Trinity Bible score. After a couple plays neither side scored, Thomas got a fastbreak layup after
Caleb Willis secured the board and had the long assist. DCC's largest lead of the game was at that juncture at 90-78. With around four minutes left, DCC matched that lead at 92-80.
The Lions were not going to slip away, as the next six points came from them thanks to a tip-in by Ward. Molan had a layup after a DCC turnover to slice the gap to four points (92-88). Battles got a needed Crusader bucket on the next play and Trinity Bible could not get a three to fall. Hobson hauled down an offensive rebound and was able to drop an inside jump shot to push the lead back to eight. The next six points were for the Lions with a three-point play by Bolden and a triple by Phillips after Marcellus Mencarini swiped a steal.
With just under a minute remaining, this game was going to come down to the wire. The Crusaders missed on the shot but retained possession on a ball out of bounce last touched by Trinity Bible. Three timeouts in a row got spent with 32 seconds and DCC having a 20-second shot clock and two-point edge. Thomas, who scored 18 points in this half alone, would wrap up his game to remember with a dagger in front of his own team's bench. DCC could celebrate knowing they upset two teams this week in the tournament and can add to its total of four since defeating No. 3 Champion Christian on February 17. DCC went 7-2 during that span to March 4 that included a season-long four-game win streak through the NCCAA Division II Southwest Regional Semifinals a week ago. The Crusaders also had a headlining win over No. 2 Manhattan Christian College in overtime to reach the semifinal.
The Crusaders ended the campaign at 10-16 with all victories coming since January 22 on the court they ended on. DCC went 4-1 on this court this season and are 7-2 under Coach Coleman all-time. DCC went 10-5 since that first win and were 9-3 against NCCAA Division II Regional Opponents.
"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."
