Box Score Box Score

THE RUNDOWN
AUSTIN, Texas – After trailing by as many as 12 in the second half, St. Edward's tied or came within one or two points of the lead eight times in the final 7:42 before Dallas Baptist eventually outlasted the Hilltoppers in a 94-88 win Saturday at the RCC.

SEU's last-ditch effort at the win came on a contested 3-point field goal drained by the Hilltoppers' JAMES TAYLOR with 53 seconds remaining to cut the DBU lead to two points at 86-88. However, the Patriots (21-5, 10-4) drained the shot clock and Chandler Jacobs earned a spot at the free-throw line with 25 seconds left, made two free throws, and extended the lead back to four points.
 
From there, SEU (15-11, 5-9) could not muster a basket on the next possession, and the Patriots hit four consecutive free throws after a traditional and flagrant foul committed simultaneously by the Hilltoppers put the game out of reach.
 
LANDON GOESLING scored 32 points in the loss for SEU while three Patriots went over the 20-point mark. Boy Van Vilet scored 29 for DBU on 12-of-17 shooting, Jacobs added 21 and JT Harris scored 21 as well.

SEU has two games to spare to battle for a spot in the Heartland Conference Tournament, which takes place March 1-3 in Tulsa. The nine-team league takes the top eight regular-season finishers.  
 

HIGHLIGHTS
• LANDON GOESLING scored 32 points for the Hilltoppers, including 8-for-8 from the free-throw line; Goesling has double figures in 25 of 26 games this season (34 games in career).
• It was the fourth game this season that Goesling has surpassed 30 points in a game and it was the 18^th time this season he's had 20 or more.
• Goesling matched a season-high with six assists, which led all players.
• DORIAN LOPEZ had 14 points and reached double figures for the 20^th time this season (34 times in his career).
• Lopez also chipped in an all-around contest with a team-high six rebounds, five assists, two steals and no turnovers.
• Lopez's ninth of 14 points was the 600^th of his career (253 points w/Oklahoma Christian last season).
• COREY SHERVILL scored 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor; it was the freshman's eighth game to score 10 or more this season.
• SEAN WATKINS scored 15 points including three 3-point baskets; the senior now has 32 career games with double-figure scoring and 16 this season.
 
STAT OF THE GAME I
6 – St. Edward's lost its sixth conference game by a deficit of six points or less with the 6-point loss to DBU.
 
THEY SAID IT
SEU head coach Andre Cook on the difference in the close loss …
"It was more them. You know, it was more Dallas Baptist. There's a reason why they're 21-4 and tied for first place in our league. They had excellent individual players that can make plays, so guys like Chandler Jacobs, Boy Van Vliet, and Carter Brown. They're hard to guard off the dribble, so they can make plays. It's not so much what their coach designed, it's those guys and they're hard to guard. We kind of have to choreograph and run our stuff to get guys certain looks and they kind of just play. I think they had some players that made plays."
 
Cook on the takeaways heading into the final two games of the regular season …
"[There are] tons [of positives]. What you saw right there, that team had their way with us at Dallas Baptist. We just can't get over the hump. We've had games like this when we're down 10, 11, 12 or it could go the other way and it can be 20 and we've tied it, we've gotten the lead. We just lost. We've lost some tough ones here. At Newman, down double digits, came back; Rogers down double digits, came back; today down double digits, came back and that's when we're not really playing a lot of guys off the bench. So, it's credit to our leadership; it's credit to our guys. There are some good times coming left in this season and hopefully it's Wednesday."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
St. Edward's plays host to Texas A&M-International with a Heartland Conference Tournament berth still on the line Thursday at the RCC at 7:30 p.m.