DMN surprise

[Hoop Fan]

Hell of a picture of BHop and Castro celebrating the win on page 1 of Sports. Cant help but recall the similarties of Sassers debut when Ponies beat Texas Tech at Moody and got some positive local coverage. Something tells me the Hop era will see several more quality wins than the Sas-Davis era did. Hopkins is well rounded and the supporting cast is stronger with Simpson and Castro and Rack with a lot of potential.

[ClassOf81]

The Morning News covered something related to SMU? How'd that happen? Wasn't there a UT softball game they could splash across the front page?

[Silk]

Here's the Star-Telegram's version of the Ponies' win over TCU:


TCU looks good to Dougherty in loss
By Tracey Myers
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - They fought from the opening tip until their final 3-point attempt. But for the first time in over three years, the Horned Frogs did not come out of the SMU game winners.

Junior Blount scored a game-high 33 points, but three attempts at a last-second 3-pointer failed as the Frogs fell to the rival SMU Mustangs 87-84, in overtime at Moody Coliseum on Sunday night.

It's the first time since Feb. 6, 1999, and only the second time since 1996 that the Mustangs won the head-to-head battle. The Frogs (1-1) and Mustangs (1-0) had another one of their classic tilts in front of a boisterous crowd. And despite the edge-of-your-seat loss, coach Neil Dougherty was not sulking.

"I thought we played very hard and SMU played very hard," Dougherty said. "They made enough plays down the stretch, and that's why they're happier than we are right now. But I am not totally disappointed in what I saw, because what I saw was a team that played hard."

Bingo Merriex had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Ronald Hobbs also had 10 points.

TCU made good passes and got the good looks, but things weren't falling for them consistently. Still, the Mustangs, who outscored the Frogs 15-2 at one point in the second half, could never pull far enough away to get comfortable.

The Frogs got their biggest defensive test with 30.2 seconds left in regulation. SMU had possession with the score tied at 75, but the Frogs kept Bryan Hopkins close to midcourt as the seconds ticked away. Quinton Ross' attempted jump shot went off the front of the rim, and Corey Valsin grabbed the rebound to send it to overtime.

"I told the guys as we were coming out of the timeout, 'How many people have asked me if our guys can play defense?'" Dougherty said. "I said: 'Here's your chance to prove it. Come up with the stop right here, and the question of whether we can play defense should never be asked again.' And they stopped them."

SMU led by five in overtime when Corey Santee hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to bring TCU within two. Hopkins made one of two free throws to make it 87-84, and the Frogs came running. But Merriex's 3-point shot hit off the rim, and attempts by Chudi Chinweze and Junior Blount also fell short.

"We weren't going to give up," Blount said. "We knew if we could just get another shot, another possession, we could accomplish something. But in overtime, we couldn't accomplish anything else."

A loss, yes. But a promising outlook for the Frogs the rest of the way? Absolutely.

"It was just a good game," Merriex said. "Both teams fought hard to the end. SMU just made a couple better plays down the stretch."

BREAKDOWN

WHY TCU LOST
The little things. Defensively, the Frogs showed improvement, especially with their big stop at the end of regulation to force the game into overtime. But a few inside shots didn't have enough on them to make it to the basket, and the last-minute 3-point attempts fell short. The Frogs also had some turnovers at bad times.

WHY SMU WON
Right plays at the right time. The Mustangs got the clutch shots when necessary, especially early in the second quarter. TCU was commanding a 10-point lead at the 16-minute mark when SMU chipped away at it in about five minutes. When the dust cleared, the Mustangs had gone on a 15-2 run and had gotten a quiet Moody Coliseum crowd back into the contest.

NOTABLE
• Forward Bingo Merriex's 10 points leave him seven shy of 1,000 for his career. Merriex, who turned 22 Sunday, is tied for fourth on the school's all-time 3-pointers list. He also had 14 rebounds for his 14th career double-digit rebound game.
• Guard Junior Blount scored 33 points, the seventh time he has scored 30 or more points at TCU. It's Blount's best game since he scored 42 against Tulane on Feb. 26.
• The Mustangs spent a lot of time on the free-throw line making 23 of 38 attempts. The Frogs went only 21 times, hitting 15 free throws. In all, SMU was called for 20 personal fouls and TCU for 32.