No. 23 DBU tops St. Mary's for 11th straight win, back into final - Lone Star Conference Skip To Main Content

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No. 23 DBU tops St. Mary's for 11th straight win, back into final

 Championship Central
 
By NICK EATMAN
 
FRISCO, Texas –  Dallas Baptist inched closer to defending the LSC Championship Tournament title, cruising past St. Mary’s 82-64 in the semifinals Saturday afternoon at Comerica Center.

All-LSC First Team Xavion Brown flirted with a triple-double as he dominated on both ends for the Patriots, scoring 11 points with eight rebounds and eight assists. Brown, who was the Tournament MVP last year for DBU, will look for a repeat performance on Sunday when DBU plays for the title against the winner of Eastern New Mexico/Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m.

The Patriots, winners of 11 straight games, improve to 26-6 on the season and avenged a January loss to St. Mary's, one of just two LSC defeats for DBU this year.

But this time around, St. Mary’s was just overmatched, although they kept it close in the early going, trailing just 35-33 with 4:40 to play in the first half. But DBU closed the first 20 minutes with a 13-2 run, capped off by a three-pointer from Junior Goodlet at the buzzer to post a 13-point halftime lead.

In the second half, SMU closed the gap to eight on two occasions, but with 14:10 to play, Cody Stevens hit a clutch three-pointer with the shot clock winding down. Stevens then hit another on the next possession and DBU kept the lead in double digits the rest of the way.

Brown wasn’t the only DBU standout as Drew Calderon led the team with 14 points and Bishop Jones added 10. Stevens, Goodlet, Trevor Frank and Jackson McCabe each scored nine.           

St. Mary’s had balanced scoring as well, just not enough of it. Olaverr Camacho had 14 points and 14 rebounds. Damani Claxton had 11 points but was limited in playing time due to injury. Justin Britt and Sebastian Mendoza each had 10 points.

The Rattlers (21-9) will wait for next week’s regional pairing as the currently rank seventh in the latest poll.
           
DBU Notes:
  • The Patriots have now won five straight LSC Tournament games, including three in double digits. In the five-game streak, DBU’s average margin of victory has been 14.8.
  • Xavion Brown has now played nine games with at least five rebounds, five assists and 10 points.
  • The Patriots have one of the deepest benches in the country, ranking fifth in the nation with 38.3 bench points per game. After getting 47 from the bench on Thursday, DBU had exactly 38 on Saturday.
  • DBU has won 11 straight games this year, including seven in double figures.
  • With 14 points on Saturday, Drew Calderon scored at least 12 points for the 11th time this year, including all three games against St. Mary’s. His only 20-point game occurred against St. Mary’s in December.
  • The Patriots improved to 20-0 in games with at least 80 points scored.
St. Mary’s Notes:
  • Olaverr Camacho, who pulled down 7.5 rebounds a game this year, nearly doubled his average with a season-high 14 boards against DBU.
  • St. Mary’s gave DBU its first conference loss of the season, 66-64 in San Antonio. The Rattlers lost to DBU in Dallas 73-67 in December.
  • With the Rattlers ranked 7th and DBU currently second in the latest South Central Regional ranking, there is a chance for a fourth meeting this year in a potential 2-7 matchup.
  • SMU ranked first in the LSC in scoring defense, giving up just 65.6 points per game, which ranked 18th nationally. But they couldn’t keep DBU off the scoreboard, yielding 82 points, the fourth-most points score against the Rattlers this year.