February 7th, 2009
(Photo of Malcolm Dotson by Drew Engelke)
Box Score
BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs kept their American Southwest Conference playoff hopes alive with a 72-64 victory Saturday at Howard Payne University.
TLU moved its overall record to 6-14 and its conference mark to 6-11.
Howard Payne dropped to 5-16 overall and to 6-11 in the ASC.
With the road victory, TLU moved into a four-way tie for the fourth and final playoff spot out of the ASC West Division. TLU currently shares fourth with Hardin-Simmons, Schreiner and Sul Ross State.
The top four teams in the ASC West and the top four in the ASC East advance to the ASC Championship Tournament.
TLU plays three of its final ASC West contests at home. The Bulldogs host Mary Hardin-Baylor this Thursday in the first of the final three ASC West home games.
Saturday against Howard Payne, the Bulldogs put together a balanced scoring effort and one of their best rebounding games. TLU out-rebounded HPU 46-36.
TLU reserve Drew Smith (Helotes/O’Conner) came off the Bulldog bench to grab a career-best seven rebounds and score seven points.
Brad Howard (Houston/Cypress Creek) led TLU with eight rebounds and 11 points. Nate Walton (Houston/Westside) and Michael Flores (Spring/Klein Collins) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
TLU led 49-31 at the half and stopped a late HPU surge that brought the Yellow Jackets within five points with three minutes to play.
The Bulldogs made 53 percent of their first-half shots. TLU points guard Malcolm Dotson (LaMarque/LaMarque) was 4-for-6 from the field for eight points and a game-high four steals.