SMU Basketball Update: Classic Split

Mustangs Top Texas State, Fall to Stephen F. Austin At Holiday Classic

DALLAS – At SMU’s inaugural Holiday Classic last weekend, the Mustangs came just shy of topping off the year with really big boost. After stopping a late charge by Texas State for a 77-70 win on Saturday, SMU needed a long buzzer-shot to fall to catch Stephen F. Austin on Sunday.

But, Paulius Ritter’s deep-corner, 3-point prayer sailed past the hoop as time expired and the Lumberjacks prevailed, 61-58.

Dia Teed Up

The Lumberjacks led, 19-18, at the half after poor shooting by both teams – SMU, 23 percent, SFA, 29. Both teams improved to 52 percent in the second half.

Things turned ominous for SMU (6-6) midway through the second half when guard Mike Walker turned his ankle and couldn’t continue. Then, with 8:47 left, 6-9 forward Papa Dia drew his fifth foul, a technical, after expressing frustration at being called for his fourth.

Doherty said he was so angry at Dia that he nearly sent him to the locker room. “One of his biggest strengths is his emotion,” Doherty said of Dia. “One of his biggest weaknesses is his emotion.”

“He’s a great kid and he’s playing his tail off,” Doherty added.

Dia finished with 10 points and eight boards. He also helped hold SFA’s leading scorer, 6-9 Matt Kingsley, to just four points before leaving the game.

Double-clutched

The game remained tight with Walker and Dia out, and Ritter and Fall in foul trouble.

At the 6:42 mark, Fall’s double-clutching free throw shooting style caught SFA in the lane on two consecutive misses. His third shot tied the game at 49. Killen soon followed with a three and SMU led, 52-49.

Against SFA, SMU's Papa Dia had 10 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with a technical foul with 8:47 to play.

Ritter’s free throw with less than a minute left put SMU up, 58-57.

Fall fouled out with 26 seconds remaining and Nick Shaw’s two free throws gave SFA the lead for good, 59-58. Killen’s lay-up attempt with seven seconds left just missed, as did Ritter’s follow-up tip.

Alexander, fouled on the rebound, sank two free throws to give the Lumberjacks a three-point edge with five seconds to play.

The Mustangs got the ball to Roberts at mid-court, who dribbled to the top of the key. Unable to shoot, Roberts passed to Ritter in the corner as the clock wound toward zero.

The plan, Doherty said, had been to call timeout if Roberts, Harp or Killen didn’t have a shot. But Doherty wasn’t upset, adding he could have called the timeout himself.

“You have to be lucky in those situations,” he said. “Everything has to work perfectly.”

Bobcats Repelled

In Saturday’s game with Texas State, SMU almost let one get away, blowing a second-half 20-point lead. The Bobcats, who’d given Texas fits in Austin, went ahead, 64-63, on Dylan Moseley’s free throw with 4:02 remaining, as Mustang fans reached for the Maalox.

But SMU held it together: Fall slammed home two dunks, Ryan Harp swished a jumper and Roberts drained eight straight free throws in the final two minutes for the win.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been here a couple of times before, this year,” Killen said of losing the lead. “We’ve been on the good side of it and we’ve been on the bad side. That experience has been invaluable for us.”

“The guys had to figure it out and I think they did,” Doherty said.

Pressed to the limit

SMU had real problems with the Bobcats’ full-court pressure in the second half. What’s up with that?

Guard Mike Walker left the game after turning an ankle in the second half while bringing the ball up-court. He was unable to continue.

Said Killen: “The way our press break is designed is to have three near-outlets and one long-outlet. More often than not were having guys on the same side that were not supposed to be there, so it put a lot of pressure on the ball handler and we made some mistakes.”

Roberts led SMU with 16 points. Fall had 15 points and three blocks.

Six-four guard Harp played probably his best game so far, collecting 14 points, five assists and nine boards. Nine boards? “I was a big guard, so in high school that was my thing,” Harp said.

Doherty liked this too about Harp: “He’s always gonna be there, defensively. And he can guard three or four positions.”

Texas State was led by Brandon Bush with 21 points and 11 boards.

The win put SMU above .500 – briefly – for the first time this season, at 6-5.

Next Two for SMU:

• Friday, January 4, 9 p.m. CT, @ Colorado

• Wednesday, January 9, 7 p.m. CT, @ UTEP (CSTV)

Ronnie sez:
“I was very pleased with the way they played in these last two games. … I thought they played good defense. … If they continue to play like they did against them, I think they’re gonna, hopefully, win some games in conference.”

Ronnie Perry (SMU ’69) has followed SMU basketball since 1957.

SMU Basketball Notes:

• The Holiday Classic’s pre-scheduled, four-team slate also included Paul Quinn College, of Dallas, which lost its two games to Texas State and SFA. Texas State finished 1-1 and SFA, 2-0.

• The all-tournament team included MVP - Josh Alexander (SFA), Derrick Roberts (SMU), Bamba Fall (SMU), Brandon Bush ( Texas St.), Jazz Henderson (Paul Quinn), and Matt Kingsley (SFA).

• This was SMU’s first loss to SFA in four games dating back to 1946, when the Mustangs won, 52-47, in Nacogdoches. SMU won, 79-66, in Dallas in ’97 and again at SFA in ’98, 84-64.

• Doherty on the difference between Fall and Ritter: “Bamba is like a Porsche, where Paulius is like a freakin’ Mack truck. A little ding in Bamba’s body has a big impact, where Paulius, … he can play through that. Bamba is a fine-tuned athlete.”