Hopkins brothers leave Moody with a loss (Photo By John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)
Down by five points in the closing minutes of Saturday’s game against the visiting UAB Blazers, the SMU men’s basketball team could have used some of the late game heroics from football season, when the Mustangs toppled the Blazers on a last second touchdown catch by receiver Bobby Chase.
The magic failed to carry over to the final basketball game of the regular season as the Blazers defeated the Mustangs 73-68.
Playing in the final home game of his career, senior Bryan Hopkins dished out a season high eight assists but scored just two points on 1 of 10 shooting from the floor. The Blazers also forced 19 Mustang turnovers with a variety of full court presses and tough zone defenses.
“We played a hard fought game tonight, but we had too many turnovers at key points in the game,” said head coach Jimmy Tubbs, who will lead his squad into the C-USA tournament next weekend in Memphis. Despite the loss, Tubbs was pleased with the offensive play of freshman center Bamba Fall, who tied a career high in points with 14 including a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line.
With the win, the Blazers (20-5, 10-2 C-USA) reached their fourth consecutive 20 win season. UAB has qualified for the NCAA tournament two years in a row out of Conference USA, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2004.
SMU (12-14, 4-9 C-USA) came out firing from the perimeter, taking a 20-9 lead on a three pointer by Brian Epps with just under ten minutes to play in the opening frame.
Another three by Dez Willingham minutes later gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the first half at 23-11. The Blazers would seize momentum for the remainder of the half, going on a 20-7 run to take a one point lead into the break.
Blazer guard Marvett McDonald ontinued his hot three point shooting to keep the Mustangs at bay down the stretch. McDonald made six of his UAB record eight three pointers in the second half and finished with a career high 39 points. Richard Jones added 10 points off the bench for UAB.
Devon Pearson led the Mustangs with a double-double, registering 15 points and 15 rebounds. Derrick Roberts added 11 to join Pearson and Fall in double figures.
Honored before the game in the senior night ceremony, Hopkins struggled after falling hard out of bounds at the end of the first half.
“He was dizzy at halftime, and it definitely affected his play in the second half,” said Coach Tubbs, who started both Hopkins brothers for their final game at Moody Coliseum. Ryan Hopkins made SMU’s first basket of the game on a 15 foot jumper.
SMU will play its final regular season game Saturday at Rice. Earlier in the season, SMU defeated Rice in overtime at Moody Coliseum.
With the regular season complete, the Mustangs will await the release of the bracket for the conference tournament, which will be the final chance to gain redemption for a sub-.500 season.
The winner of the tournament in Memphis will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
