The Mustangs have had a tendency to spot their opponents a large first-half lead and give the crowd a good show in the second half. There was no exception versus their longtime rival, the Rice Owls, Saturday night.
SMU trailed by as many as 13 points early in the second half, but led by guards Jon Killen, Derrick Roberts and Mike Walker, the Mustangs finished the game on a 24-3 run, charging to a 68-53 victory.
SMU (8-13, 2-6) committed 14 turnovers and gave up high percentage second-chance buckets in the first half as the Owls built a 34-23 halftime lead. However, the tide would turn dramatically in the final 20 minutes.
Led by effective guard play and a more tenacious, aggressive defense, the Mustangs stampeded Rice (3-19, 0-9) for 45 second-half points.
Nearly half of those came from the free-throw line. SMU hit 22 of its 23 free throw attempts, including 12 in a row in the final six minutes.
Additionally, SMU outscored Rice 24-3 from beyond the arc. Six of the Mustangs’ three-pointers came in the second half.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said SMU head coach Matt Doherty. “Sometimes you wake up and you just don’t have it, and you need something to happen to get you going.”
After allowing the Owls to shoot 54 percent in the opening half, the Mustangs started pressing in the second half. The Owls began to turn the ball over, which gave SMU easy buckets.
The Mustangs also switched to a smaller lineup, which opened lanes for guards to break through.
Among those who took advantage was point guard Jon Killen. The senior struggled in the first half before finding his stroke in the second period.
The league leader in assists and minutes played only 12 minutes in the opening half, turning the ball over seven times.
After Doherty challenged Killen during halftime, the Mustangs’ unquestioned leader stepped up and gave his team the boost it needed.
Killen’s first bucket of the evening, a three pointer, tied the game at 44-44 with 9:37 to play and capped a 12-2 run.
“I barely shot the ball tonight,” said Killen. “But to hit a shot like that, it got us going and it got the crowd back into the game.”
He calmly knocked down all eight of his free-throw attempts in the final four minutes to solidify the victory. Killen finished with 11 points, five assists and three steals.
Roberts aided the comeback by contributing a season-high 20 points.
The 6-foot-4 senior hit three three pointers, two of them in a key 12-2 SMU run that started the momentum swing midway through the second half.
Walker delivered the final blow, hitting the go-ahead three pointer with 4:38 left in the game. That shot put the Mustangs ahead for good and ended the freshman’s scoring drought.
Walker did not score a single point in SMU’s previous two games, which were road losses to top-ranked Memphis and western division rival Tulsa.
He finished with 12 points, five assists and three steals Saturday.
“I challenged Mike at halftime,” said Doherty. “I said to him, ‘You’ve got to be tough enough to make the shots. Either you take them and you make them or you don’t take them.’ He made them in the second half.”
The guard trio of Walker, Roberts and Killen combined for only eight first-half points.
The Mustangs hope to avoid digging themselves into such a big hole when they face Marshall on Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum. The Valentine’s Eve showdown is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
SMU has won two straight home games. The Mustangs defeated Central Florida in overtime, 69-67, on Jan. 26. In that game, SMU trailed the Owls 34-24 at halftime.
