ABILENE, Texas – Just two weeks into the 2016-17 season, the McMurry University men's basketball team has already surpassed last season's wins total, thanks to Saturday's 80-58 drubbing of East Texas Baptist University at Kimbrell Arena. The War Hawks (4-2, 2-0 ASC) remained unbeaten in American Southwest Conference play by dominating the Tigers (4-2, 0-2 ASC) from the outset.
(In 2015-16, McM was 3-22 overall).
With 11:02 left in the first half, McM had built itself a 24-6 lead. ETBU did not even reach double-digits until the 9:29 juncture of the half, 24-11. McMurry kept the pressure on and expanded its lead to 42-17 at the intermission.
The War Hawks maintained a 20 point advantage for the bulk of the second half. With 4:49 left in the game, McM enjoyed its largest margin, a 37-point bulge (79-42) when
Shakur Smith (6 points) drained the second of his two treys. ETBU managed to whittle away at the margin against the War Hawks' reserves for the final 80-58 score.
The War Hawks really made the difference on the backboards, where they controlled the Tigers by a 54-33 margin. Freshman
Kaan Yilmaz had a game-leading eight rebounds. He also scored 14 points and passed off three assist.
Senior guard
Nate Estrada had a game-high 15 points on a 6-for-12 shooting game from the floor, also going 2-for-4 from behind the three-point line. Estrada hauled in seven boards, as well.
Freshman
Luke Stephenson's 12 points off the McM bench made him the War Hawks' third double-figure scorer. Stephenson was 5-of-12 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range. He also had a game-best three steals and chipped in four rebounds.
Zacc Carter had eight points and
Darius Watts seven in the win.
Aaron Gettys,
LaRandall Scroggins and Smith each had six points.
Calvin McGee's three points, two from
Gabriel Chacon and one from
Thierry Tchenko rounded out McM's scoring.
As a team, the War Hawks shot nearly 44 percent (31-71) from the field, including draining 10-of-22 (46 percent) from long distance. Conversely, the Tigers were held to 31 percent (16-52) from the floor by McM's smothering defense.
