DCC buries 17 triples in handing Eagles' fourth straight loss

The A&M-Texarkana men's basketball team had hoped to ring in the new year with a home win Tuesday, but instead fell to Dallas Christian College, 83-75, in a non-conference contest at the Patterson Center.

The Crusaders (4-10) used the deep ball to distance themselves from the host Eagles (3-7), connecting on 17-of-35 shots from long range (48.6 percent) to go ahead by as many as 14 in the first half and fend off a late rally by the Eagles.

Levelle Zeigler led the Eagles with 17 points to go with six assists and four rebounds, Jeff Norment added 12 points and five rebounds in his debut with the Eagles and Raschard Greene came off the bench to add 11 points and five boards. Brison Waller also made his first appearance for TAMUT, scoring nine points and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds off the bench.

Yuot Gai led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Crusaders while Blake Walker added 19 points. Six different players made at least one three-point shot with Walker making 5-of-7 attempts and Gai burying 4-of-5.

The Crusaders' first seven field goals came from behind the arc en route to a 21-7 lead just seven minutes into the game. The Eagles dug in an eventually erased the deficit, taking a 33-32 lead on Waller's triple with 4:56 left in the opening half. Zeigler scored seven straight points for the Eagles to give the home team a 45-39 lead but Blake and Gai each buried treys in the final 20 seconds to end the half tied at 45-45.

The Crusaders never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 10 with 2:31 to play (81-71). Norment made consecutive shots to being the Eagles to within six but the home team would get no closer, falling to their fourth straight loss.

The Eagles will be on the road at the end of this week and resume RRAC play against Paul Quinn on Thursday at 7:30 pm, before heading to Hobbs, NM to take on Southwest on Saturday at 4 pm.