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Papa Dia Had 23 Points, 11 Rebounds And 7 Blocks In 70-68 Loss To Houston
Robert Nyakundi added 22 points

Jan. 15, 2011

DALLAS (AP) - Adam Brown scored 22 points, including a late layup that give Houston the lead for good, and the Cougars edged SMU 70-68 on Saturday.

Brown's field goal with 1:40 remaining put Houston up 67-66, and the Cougars (10-6, 2-1 Conference USA) held on to win for the fourth time in five games. Alandise Harris led Houston with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Darian Thibodeaux had 17 points.

Papa Dia finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high seven blocked shots for the Mustangs (10-7, 1-2), and Robert Nyakundi added 22 points.

Neither team led by more than six, and there were nine lead changes in the final 11:38.

Following Brown's layup, Harris hit two free throws before Dia's dunk made it 69-68 with 5 seconds to play. Zamal Nixon then hit 1-of-2 free throws for Houston before Mike Walkermissed a 3 at the buzzer.

Houston 70, at SMU 68
SMU Mustangs (10-7, 1-2), Houston Cougars (10-6, 2-1)
January 15, 2011
Moody Coliseum
Dallas, Texas

NEXT GAME: SMU plays at UAB on January 19 at 7 p.m.


TEAM NOTES
- 5th time this year Dia and Nyakundi has each scored 20+ points in the same game
- SMU outscored Houston in the paint 34-10

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Papa Dia
- Scored 23 pts
- Is now 27th all-time at SMU in career points (1098), passing Steve Strange (1077), Eric Castro (1093) and Jan Loudermilk (1096)
- Has now scored 498 pts in C-USA games, second all-time at SMU passing Derek Williams (478)
- Grabbed 11 rebounds
- Recorded his seventh double-double of the season and 20th of his career
- Had a career-high 7 blocks
o An SMU Conference USA single-game record
o T-3rd all-time at SMU for a single game
- Reached double-digits for the 15th time in the past 16 games
- Has 8 20+ point C-USA games, passing Derek Williams (7) for the most by an SMU player
- At the half, had 10 pts, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks

Robert Nyakundi
- Scored 22 points
- Has now scored 293 pts in C-USA games, 6th all-time at SMU with Mouhammad Faye and passing Ike Ofoegbu (285)
- Hit 3 3FG
- Is 6th all-time at SMU in career 3FGM (139)
- Reached double-digits in scoring for the 13th straight game
- Went 3-3 at the foul line; is shooting 91.5% on the season (43-47)

Collin Mangrum
- Earned his first start as a Mustang and played all 40 minutes
- Was 6-11 on FGs
- Scored 13 points; second straight game with 10+ points
- Had 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals

Mike Walker
- Hit a 3FG
- Is now t-10th all-time at SMU in career 3FGM (107), tying Damon Hancock (107)

Matt Doherty press conference — part 1


Matt Doherty press conference — part 2


Papa Dia press conference

SWEET CHRISTMAS! Hit the FTs and the Mustangs probably would have won this game! Doherty needs to lock these guys in Moody overnight and have them do nothing but shoot FTs! Ridiculous!

Collin had a great game, but if he didnt meddle with certainly one shot that was going in anyway, we'd have been in better shape.

Agree. Kid has some hops though

MrMustang1965 wrote:SWEET CHRISTMAS! Hit the FTs and the Mustangs probably would have won this game! Doherty needs to lock these guys in Moody overnight and have them do nothing but shoot FTs! Ridiculous!

We have been saying this for years, and is still true!!!

Thanks for the videos, webguys. Good stuff.

Guys played pretty well yesterday. Helped that Cougar High was missing a couple of guys, but Mangrum put on an encouraging performance, and Dia was an absolute beast.

I thought Mangrum was a little up and down frankly. He ended with something like 13 points and really hustled out there. But I also think he was whistled twice for offensive goal-tending in the last 10 minutes. In a 2-point game, that could be the difference. I don't mean to get down on him though. I think Mangrum is a very nice addition to the starting lineup and is definitely a net positive.

I thought the team executed very well in the last 20 seconds. I can't say that SMU was "out-coached." The final play was executed to perfection. . .except for the part where Walker missed the shot. It wasn't off by much though. I like this team. They don't have any depth, but they play hard. Its just too bad that Dia is a senior. I'd love to see him back next year with some of the guys we've got coming in.

BIGHORSE wrote:We have been saying this for years, and is still true!!!

Going to any basketball games this year?