Dec. 5, 2007
Final Stats
Dallas, Texas - The TCU men's basketball program dropped a 71-65 decision to SMU at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday (Dec. 5) as part of the State Farm DFW Duel.
The Frogs got off to a roaring start, especially from behind the three-point line, as the Purple and White connected on three straight three-pointers en route to taking a quick 9-2 lead over the Mustangs. Senior Brent Hackett (Fort Worth, Texas/Southwest H.S.) connected on a pair of three-pointers while Henry Salter (Gulfport, Miss/Mississippi Gulf Coast College) added one trey during the first four minutes of action.
The Frogs and Mustangs battled throughout the first half with the Frogs taking an eight-point advantage at 25-18 at the 3:42 mark following a lay-in by Salter - who finished with 11 points in the first half of action. The TCU junior finished the evening with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds in a career-high 34 minutes of action.
After connecting on 43.4 percent (13-of-30) in the first half of action, the Frogs took a 34-29 advantage heading into the locker rooms.
In the second half of action, the Mustangs were the ones who came out roaring from the field as the home squad connected on 48.5 percent (16-of-33) compared to a 37.9 percent (11-of-29) in the first 20 minutes of action. SMU also connected on 7-of-8 free throw attempts in the second half of action with six straight of those coming in the final two minutes of the game.
The home squad chipped away at the lead of the Frogs during the opening minutes of the second frame and were able to build a 10-point advantage at the 7:55 mark following a pair of dunks by SMU junior Bamba Fall.
Fall scored nine points in the game on 4-of-5 shooting with seven of those points coming in the second half of action. The SMU junior also grabbed five rebounds and recorded two blocked shots in 27 minutes of court time.
The Mustangs out-scored the Frogs by a 30-14 margin over the final 9:02 in the contest to regain and build upon a lead that they would never relinquished en route to securing the victory on their home court
Derrick Roberts led the scoring attack for the Mustangs with an 18-point evening after the SMU senior connected on 7-of-15 shooting to go along with four rebounds in 29 minutes of action. Roberts was one of four Mustangs to record a double-digit scoring performance against the Frogs along with Jon Killen (14), Papa Dia (12) and Alex Malone (10).
Hackett finished with a team-high 17 points in the game where the TCU senior connected five three-pointers in 29 minutes of action. Hackett attempted 16 three-point field goal attempts - including his first 15 shots from the field.
Hackett's three-point field goal attempts were the most attempted by a Frog since Malcolm Johnson (versus Fresno State on January 8, 1998) and Anthony Burks (versus Montana State on January 7, 1996).
Kevin Langford (Fort Worth, Texas/North Crowley H.S.) finished with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, to go along with two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 32 minutes of action. Mike Scott (Philadelphia, Pa./Franklin Learning Center) added a career-high 11 points against the Mustangs as the TCU newcomer connected on 4-of-5 shooting in 19 minutes of court time.
The Mustangs controlled the lead in points in the paint as SMU finished with 28 compared to 20 for the Frogs. The paint tally for the Frogs was the season-low for the Purple and White compared to totals of 48 and 44 in earlier games.
The Frogs dropped their overall record to 4-3 on the 2007-08 campaign and will be back in action on Saturday (Dec. 8) when the Purple and White welcome Texas Southern to the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum for a 12:00 p.m. tip-off.
TCU Athletic Media Relations
