Welcomed back with a buzzer beater

Jan 15, 2021
Austin College file photo
 

A number of schools got onto the court for the first time on Friday night, including the University of Dallas, which was greeted with a loss at the buzzer in its opener at Austin College.

As time wound down in a back-and-forth game, Letrell Toussaint hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds left to give the University of Dallas its first lead of the game at 80-78. Following a timeout, Austin College inbounded in the backcourt and Chanston Goodman found Michael Holland straight up about 30 feet from the basket, where Holland drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Roos an 81-80 win. It was the only 3 on the night for Holland, as AC went just 4-for-22 from beyond the arc. Kam Hogan scored a team-high 21 for Austin College, 12 of them in the second half, while Jai Love led University of Dallas with 28 points. Toussaint had a game-high 18 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end, to go along with 19 points.

Maryville returned to the floor after a 310-day layoff and had four scorers in double-figures in an 82-73 win against Piedmont. JR Sanders scored a team-high 17 points off the bench while Myles Rasnick, a transfer from Division I East Tennessee State, added 17 as well. Piedmont fell to 2-4.

A Brandon Christlieb layup gave Manchester the lead with just under three minutes left and the Spartans held on to edge Earlham 84-81. It was the second game of the season for Manchester, both wins, and the opener for Earlham. The game does not count in the HCAC standings. Manchester had trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half after the Quakers went on a 24-7 run. The Spartans countered with a 20-2 run of their own, which Christlieb scoring seven of his 16 points during that stretch.

In Friday night's women's action, St. Thomas (Texas) found that its second year as a provisional Division III program was going to be a whole lot harder than its first. Last year, the Celts went 20-5 with a number of players finishing up their career as former scholarship athletes. This year's Celts took their lumps on Friday night in their season opener, falling to Trinity (Texas) by a 73-38 score. Maggie Shipley, a transfer from Amherst, led the victorious Tigers with 15 points off the bench, scored in just 15 minutes of action. A total of 16 players got at least four minutes of playing time for Trinity. Micayla Hamilton scored a team-high 12 for St. Thomas.

The Tigers joined Austin College, Schreiner and Texas Lutheran as winners on the first night of women's basketball action in the SCAC.

Through Friday, 59 Division III men's teams have played games which count in the standings and 53 women's teams have done so.