McMurry evened its home record at 2-2 behind the hot shooting of Alex Robles and his teammates Thursday night at Kimbrell Arena with a 89-80 win over Concordia-Texas. Robles scored a season-high 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting and McMurry shot 49.3 percent for the game to win its second American Southwest Conference game of the season.
The Tornados trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half, but at one point cut the lead to 75-70. However, McMurry was able to hold on and maintained the control it had established throughout the entire game to hold on for victory.
Robles scored 13 in the first half and 12 in the second. McMurry also had double-figure performances from Curtis Davis who had 16, Curtis Jones who had 11 and Dewayne Hall had 10.
For Jones, the fourth-year player, it was a career night. The senior center from Leander received 25 minutes of playing time to help keep up with the athletic Tornados. His 11 points was a career high and his seven rebounds was also a career high. Jones recorded two steals and one block on the defensive end and was 5 of 7 from the floor.
Davis is an emerging star as a freshman. In his first eight games, he scored just 30 points. However, with Thursday night's 16 points, he now has a combined 77 points in his last five giving him an average of 15.4 points since he scored 16 against UT-San Antonio Dec. 28.
Robert Moreno also had a solid game with eight points, eight assists and three steals. Two of his steals came in the first half when he drew charges and helped McMurry establish control in the first half – something the Tornados didn't have.
Concordia not only finished with 27 turnovers, but it had three starters foul out as Valentino Maxwell, Joel McDonald and Mike Moore all exited early. All three players scored in double figures despite fouling out. Jason Recendez led the Tornados with 16 points in the loss.
The Tornados went on a 12-2 run ending with a McDonald jumper with 5:48 remaining. McMurry countered with six-straight points to build the lead back to 11. From there, the Tornados got back to within six points on a McDonald free throw with 2:07 left, but Chris Beck and Alex Robles made the next four free throws for McMurry and the team went on to hold off any further rally.
McMurry will have another tough test after beating Concordia, the second-place team in the ASC West Division. Saturday the team plays host to Mary Hardin-Baylor, who is ranked No. 4 in the nation by D3Hoops.com. The Crusaders fell to Hardin-Simmons Thursday night, but still carries an 11-1 record into Saturday's game.
