Mustangs win
SMU fans finally have something to cheer about – an undefeated sports team. Sunday night, the SMU men’s basketball team beat the TCU Horned Frogs 87-84 in overtime at Moody Coliseum.
This is the first time the SMU men’s basketball team has beat TCU in the last six attempts.
Senior forward Quinton Ross carried the team on his back, scoring a career-high 28 points and grabbing three rebounds.
Highly anticipated newcomer Ryan Hopkins proved himself worthy in his first collegiate game, scoring 12 points and dishing out 10 assists. Hopkins was also able to escape with zero turnovers.
Ross was the lone senior in the young SMU starting five, and TCU was very aware of the situation. The Horned Frogs came out shooting, overpowering the Mustangs with easy lay-ups.
TCU went into halftime with a nine point, 39-30, lead. The lead would soon be diminished.
The Mustangs approached the second half with tenacity. Senior Jibran Kelley came off the bench and had one of his best games as a Mustang. Kelley only played 24 minutes, but the minutes he played, he made it count.
Kelley’s biggest contribution came with his four offensive rebounds, which lead to important second chance points. Kelley’s final stats for the game were eight points and nine rebounds.
With 12:00 left in the second half, SMU was still down, but only by two points. Sophomore Eric Castro was fed the ball in the paint and brought it up strong, getting fouled in the process. He missed his free throw, but TCU was called with a lane violation and Castro converted on the next free throw attempt.
The key defensive play of the game came with 1:15 left in regulation. Last year’s WAC Newcomer of the Year Patrick Simpson had a crucial block that would have given TCU the lead. So with under a minute left, SMU was up by only one point.
TCU would soon score on a jump shot, giving the Horned Frogs the one-point advantage. Ross broke free on the fast break and was fouled but was only able to convert on one of the free throws. With the game tied and only five seconds left, Quinton Ross once again had the chance to win the game, but he was not able to make his shot.
Overtime was all SMU. With 30 seconds left, Hopkins made a clutch three pointer to give SMU.
