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 Historic Win: Schreiner
Men Overcome Injuries/CTX
to Claim First ASC
Postseason Tourney
Appearance
Photo: Senior
Tyrie Prince and SU head
coach Drew Miller
celebrate after Prince
led SU to the postseason
tournament for the first
time in school history
Saturday. Photo by
Aaron Yates.
KERRVILLE, TX --
Schreiner might have
lost its top two
players, but there was
still plenty of heart
and effort from the rest
of the team to earn a
decisive 90-76 win over
visiting Concordia-TX
and in the process claim
the final ASC West
playoff spot for the
first time in school
history. Senior Tyrie
Prince played the game
of his collegiate career
in scoring 28 points,
with eight rebounds,
five steals and four
assists in his final
appearance in an SU
uniform at the Edington
Center. He and his
teammates were not going
to let a little thing
like adversity stop them
on this day.
The obstacles that the
Mountaineers (12-11 in
ASC) would have to
overcome actually
started two weeks ago
when promising and
productive freshman
Stevan Guerrero was lost
for the season with a
hand injury. Then
yesterday, SU's super
rookie Travis Pflughaupt
sustained a broken nose
in practice. It wasn't
until this morning that
he was cleared to play
and was able to locate a
facial mask. If that
wasn't enough, arguably
the team's most
important player down
the stretch, sophomore
point guard Darren
Smith, was lost with a
knee injury just five
minutes into the
contest. On paper, it
seemed like an
unsurmountable series of
challenges while also
having to beat a
Concordia (12-11 in ASC)
team that had won eight
straight games against
SU until the
Mountaineers broke the
streak with an 86-84 win
in Austin last month.
 Schreiner got on top
early but then Smith
went down with a
potentially serious knee
injury. As it has all
year when the odds go
against them, Schreiner
responded with a gutsy
performance and - using
a 20-7 run - took a
27-15 lead midway
through the half. At
the break, SU led by
nine, 45-36. CTX scored
the first four point of
the second half, but
Schreiner again dug deep
and pushed the margin to
16 at 58-42. It was
still a 10-point lead
when Pflughaupt (15
points, 12 rebounds)
went out but guys like
junior Manny Longoria
(seven points, two
steals), sophomore Ryan
Evans (eight points,
seven rebounds) and
sophomore Mike Stewart
(5 points in eight
minutes) joined with
Prince, sophomore Ethan
Catalani (8 points,
seven rebounds, four
assists) and sophomore
AJ Myres (18 points, six
rebounds off the
bench). The
Mountaineers dominated
the glass, 46-33 and
held CTX to less than
40% shooting.
In addition to Prince,
Schreiner seniors Kevin
Carrell and Trent Noack
had their final games at
SU. Carrell played key
minutes down the stretch
in sealing the victory.
Noack could not play
because of an injury.
Schreiner now advances
to the ASC Tournament
which begins on Friday
in Belton and is hosted
by ASC West Division
champion Mary
Hardin-Baylor.
Schreiner will face ASC
East Champion UT-Dallas
which has won 14
straight games.
Schreiner did post one
of the four losses on
UTD when the
Mountaineers scored a
80-74 home win on
December 20th. No word
on Friday's game time.
The tournament is a
single elimination
format and runs through
Sunday where the
tournament champion
earns the conference's
automatic bid to the
NCAA Tournament. |
