SMU Defeats TCU In Thriller
The SMU Mustangs pulled away at the end to defeat crosstown rival TCU 68-62 in a hard fought battle at Moody Coliseum Wednesday night.
SMU improved to 11-13 on the season, 7-3 at home. TCU fell to 13-10 overall.
SMU’s London Giles hit a three-pointer with 1:44 remaining to put the Mustangs ahead for good after sophomore forward Amric Fields gave TCU a slim one-point edge with a pair of free throws on the previous possession.
Aliaksei Patsevich extended the Mustang advantage to 63-60 with 28.6 seconds left on a fastbreak layup, then added two free throws to make it a five-point game after TCU failed to grab the rebound on a missed free throw attempt. SMU sealed the game at the charity stripe from there.
J. R. Cadot paced TCU on the night, scoring 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. The Nassau, Bahamas, native also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Cadot scored TCU’s first seven points on a pair of layups and a 3-pointer in the opening four-and-a-half minutes. Three other Frogs scored in double figures including Fields and Green, who chipped in 12 points each and Thorns, who totaled 11.
Four Mustangs reached double figures, including
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Robert Nyakunki, who scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including 3-for-8 from beyond the arc. It is the 20th game this season Nyakundi has reached double figures.
Giles totaled 14, and added a career-high 6 rebounds. Samarrippas and Patsevich both added 10.
SMU hit 11-of-24 attempts from 3-point range. It is the 5th game of the season for the Mustangs with 10 or more 3-pointers.
The two teams played a high-paced, back-and-forth first half that
featured 15 ties and eight lead changes. The Horned Frogs led by as many as eight points, marking the largest lead for either team in the contest, in the early stages after scoring 15 of the game’s first 22 points.
SMU tied the game late in the half after finding their touch from long range. The Mustangs made four of their last six attempts from beyond the arc and finished the period 7-of-14 overall from outside. Back-to-back 3’s by Samarrippas and Smith put SMU on top by a score of 35-32 with under three minutes remaining. Anderson added a trey late for TCU then forced a steal inside the final 10 seconds that resulted in a Thorns layup and a tie game at the half, 37-37.
In the second half, neither team led by more than fourpoints until SMU pulled away in the final minute. The Mustangs led by four with 3:30 left before a Thorns 3-pointer and two Fields free throws put TCU back on top with 2:06 to go.
SMU takes on C-USA foe Rice on Saturday at 7:00pm.
TCU returns to conference action Saturday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, where the Frogs play host to Colorado State. Tip-off for the contest, which will be televised live by The Mountain West Sports Network (The Mtn.), is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
