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SU Overcomes HSU, Fouls for Another Big W

Photo: Freshman Stevan Guerrero played through adversity and is congratulated by teammates at the end of Saturday's win.  Photo by Aaron Yates.

KERRVILLE, TX –-  For what is likely to be the first time ever, Schreiner completed a back-to-back sweep of Hardin-Simmons and McMurry with an 81-76 win over the Cowboys on Saturday afternoon.  SU (10-7 in ASC) used a 12-0 run midway through the second half to open up space on HSU (13-4 in ASC). 

The first half saw HSU - and particularly senior guard Matt Addison (30 points) - came out on fire.  Addison scored nine of HSU's first 11 points as the Cowboys opened up a lead.  Schreiner kept hanging around a tall, physical Cowboys' team and wouldn't let the visitors get too far in front.  Unfortunately, foul trouble to three key Schreiner players would start to become a storyline in the first half.  Freshman Travis Pflughaupt, senior Tyrie Prince and sophomore Ethan Catalani all picked up three first half fouls as Hardin-Simmons took a 37-33 lead into the locker room.

After halftime, the Mountaineers did a good job of keeping the three out of more foul trouble and SU subsequently rallied.  A basket by Pflughaupt (12 points, nine rebounds, two blocks, two steals) tied the game at 41-all with 16:59 to go.  Shortly after, sophomore Darren Smith (30 points, seven rebounds) gave the home team it's first lead after making 1-of-2 free throws for a 42-41 lead.  HSU went back in front and held a 50-49 lead when the game changed in the Mountaineers' favor.  It started when Smith scored and was fouled.  His three-point play opened up a two-point SU lead.  Pflughaupt also had an old-fashioned three-point play and the Edington Center was rocking.  Freshman Stevan Guerrero scored on a put-back to make it 57-50.  Smith stole the ball and drove in for a basket to put SU up by nine and sophomore Michael Huddleston capped the rally by scoring on a fast break layup to make it 61-50.

HSU would get as close as the final score but that was the best the visitors could do as Smith was 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the closing minutes to seal the win.  Smith finished 15-for-17 from the line in the game.  In addition to Smith's and Pflughaupt's play, Schreiner also got huge performances from Guerrero (13 points, four steals, three assists), Prince (10 points, six rebounds and two steals) and freshman Jerome Harrell (seven points, eight rebounds).  Catalani scored four points but had five rebounds and four assists.

Coach Miller on the game: "A great team victory against one of the best teams in our conference.  We started off slowly and lacked focus, but thank goodness it's a 40-minute game.  We did a really good job the last 30 minutes of executing our game plan.  Steve (Guerrero) did a tremendous job against the best player in the ASC, especially in containing and contesting his shots without fouling.  Darren continues to grow as a leader on and off the court.  As great as these two wins were, the real test for our team will be the hitting the road this next week.  We've shown that we can be a really good team when we have great effort, but we've also shown in the past that we can be a very beatable when we lack focus.  We'll see which teams shows up this week."

Schreiner now goes on the road this week for a pair of key contests and it will be interesting to see what level the team performs at.  Twice this year, SU has played key games with less than optimal effort and lost badly, but hopefully this team has now learned from those earlier mistakes.  On Thursday, SU travels to Alpine to face Sul Ross State at 7:30 pm.  Schreiner held off an SRSU second half rally for an 88-74 home win last month.