HOUSTON – The University of St. Thomas men's basketball team extended its winning streak to six with a 93-77 victory over Dallas Christian Saturday.
St. Thomas improved to 6-2. Dallas Christian fell to 1-6.
Four players scored in double figures for the Celts, who topped 90 points for the third straight game.
Lennard Robinson (JR/Houston, Texas) fed Nathan Thormaehlen (JR/Katy, Texas) with a lob to the glass, and the Celts junior forward converted underneath to put UST ahead, 59-35, roughly four minutes into the second half. Michael Alfred (JR/Baton Rogue, Louisiana) sank one of two free throws following a Crusaders technical foul, and then scored on a drop-off from Keaton Shaw (JR/Mt. Belvieu, Texas) as St. Thomas took a 65-41 lead.
Shaw buried a three to extend UST's lead to 72-46 with 9:00 left. Dallas Christian trimmed the deficit to 16 with 3:30 to play. Chance Houston canned a pair of triple in the last 1:22 as the Crusaders cut it to 12, but St. Thomas didn't cave down the stretch.
The Celts were 33 of 70 from the floor and 9 of 36 from long distance. The Crusaders were 27 of 73 from the field and 12 of 30 from beyond the arc.
Nicholas Perez (JR/Katy, Texas) hit a three in transition, and Sam Flores (SR/El Paso, Texas) buried another on the next trip down the floor as St. Thomas took a 20-13 lead at the 13:56 mark. Dallas Christian closed to within 24-23 on a pull-up jumper by Chance Houston roughly three minutes later.
Perez, who scored all 11 of his points in the first half, drained another three from the top of the key, and then followed that up with a triple from the wing as the Celts built the lead out to 34-23 with just over 8:00 remaining before intermission. Alfred then went coast-to-coast, rising up for a jam, and Kennard Robinson (JR/Houston, Texas) sank two free throws to extend the lead to 15.
UST went up by 16 in the first half when Paris Marquez (SR/Atascocita, Texas) fed Orowo Eleyae (SR/Houston, Texas) inside for a bucket down low with just over 2:00 remaining. Kennard Robinson found Quashi Philips on the low block to give the Celts a 51-33 lead at the break.
St. Thomas hit 63 percent of its field goals, going 17 of 27 from the field in the first half. Dallas Christian shot 33 percent, going 13 of 39. The Celts were 11 of 14 from the free throw line in the half, while the Crusaders were 2 of 3.
Eleyae led the Celts with 14 points and six rebounds. Alfred and Philips each scored 13. Paul Taulton (JR/Pearland, Texas) had eight points, and Shaw six points and 10 rebounds.
Hunter Bennett and Houston each scored 19 for the Crusaders.
St. Thomas will host the University of Dallas at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Jerabeck Activity & Athletic Center.
