Box Score COMMERCE, TEXAS – The Patriots held the Tigers to just 38% shooting on the night and added in shooting 45% to outpace Ouachita Baptist to a 74-62 victory in Commerce, Texas on Friday night.
Ouachita Baptist led for just 6:50 of the game as the Patriots responded to early pressure and took the lead for good on a Jaxon Edelmeyer and-one layup with 8:31 left in the first half. That capped off a 13-5 run from UT Tyler after finding themselves down 14-7 just over six minutes into the contest.
The first half stayed close until a late charge from UT Tyler closed out the half up eight points thanks to
Micah Fuller and
Da'Zhon Wyche cashing in from the free throw line.
Eysan Wiley and Fuller led the way at the break with nine points each.
The Patriots shot 50% from the field in the first half and took advantage of their time at the charity stripe by going 10-15.
In the second half the Tigers started off action by going on a 10-5 run in the first six minutes of the game to close the gap to just three points.
Milan Szabo scored on a putback layup and
Patrick Samoura scored on a fastbreak layup to stretch the lead right back to seven and put the Tigers out of reach for the remainder of the game.
Strong defense was the theme of the night as the Patriots held the Tigers to two separate scoring droughts in critical points of the second half. The first was 2:43 and allowed the Patriots to stretch their lead to seven points.
The second run lasted 1:48 and came right at the end of the contest. Ouachita Baptist had begun to threaten the lead, closing the gap to seven points with 2:05 left in the contest. The Patriots responded by scoring their final eight points by way of free throws and closing out the contest with the 12 point victory.
Fuller led the way with 16 points on the evening for UT Tyler. Wiley added 14 and Szabo added an additional 12.
Wyche had a season high nine assists and Wiley and Szabo also combined for 15 rebounds on the night.
The Patriots forced 19 total turnovers on the night and turned those into 21 points. 22 of their 74 points came off of the fastbreak, and 40 total points came in the paint.
UT Tyler will be back at it tomorrow afternoon to wrap up their two contests at the Lion Hoopsgiving in Commerce, Texas. They will take on Mississippi College at 12 p.m.
The next home game for the Patriots will come on Dec. 16 against UAFS. That game is set for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff inside the Herrington Patriot Center.
