KERRVILLE, Texas – McMurry University men's basketball opened a two-game non-conference road trip with an 87-68 loss at Schreiner University. The loss dropped the War Hawks to 5-5 overall, while the Mountaineers improved to 3-5.
 
SU's win avenged a 91-82 win by McM in Abilene back on November 19.
 
The Mountaineers started fast in the rematch, jumping out to a 7-0 lead before McM even got on the board. The War Hawks first points came from Nate Estrada on a mid-range jumper at the 18:14 mark. The host SU team would lead by as much as 16 points in the opening period, 33-17, at the 5:35 juncture.
 
But McM would close out the stanza with a flurry, cutting into the deficit. The War Hawks outscored the Mountaineers 18-8 in the final 5 ½ minutes to trail 41-35 at the break. Estrada and Kaan Yilmaz each had seven points during the run that drew the visiting McM squad closer.
 
Schreiner opened the second half on an 8-0 run of its own over the first 1 ½ minutes to stretch its lead to 13 points, 48-35.  The Mountaineers would hold a double-digit lead for the bulk of the second half to thwart any McM comeback hopes.
 
Estrada, a senior, finished the game with a career-high 32 points. Estrada hit 11-of-17 from the field overall and was 8-of-11 from beyond the arc. His eight treys was the most since Bryce Hill also canned eight from long range on Jan. 26, 2012 (also versus Schreiner) and just one off the McM school record of nine made.
 
The Mountaineers out-rebounded McM as a team, 37-28.
 
Aaron Gettys added seven points in the loss, connecting on 4-of-6 from the free throw line.  Zacc Carter booked four points, Luke Stephenson three and Darius Watts two to round out the War Hawks' scoring.
 
Schreiner shot a healthy 53 percent (31-58) from the floor, including 59 percent (13-22) from three-point range. McM was 10-for-21 (48 percent) from beyond the arc as a unit.
 
McMurry will play its final pre-Christmas game on Tuesday (5 p.m.) at Texas Lutheran University as the second half of a women's-men's doubleheader.