Frogs win opener but lose to rival SMU in overtime
By Danny Gillham
Sports Editor

It was quite a weekend for new men’s head coach Neil Dougherty and the Frogs.

After winning its home and season opener against Sam Houston State Friday, the team lost in a close 87-84 overtime contest to rival Southern Methodist Sunday night.

A harassing crowd of an announced 7,102 at Moody Coliseum was loud, but the Frogs maintained a close contest with the Mustangs and forced the overtime by getting what has been an oxymoron for the team in the past: a defensive stop.

The team forced SMU and Quentin Ross, who led the Mustangs with 28 points, into an uncomfortable shot that was short.

“I told the guys as we were coming out of the timeout: ‘You know what, how many people have asked me if our guys can play defense,’ ” Dougherty said. “I said here’s your chance to prove it, and the question of whether we can play defense should never be asked again.”

However the Frogs gave the Mustangs too many opportunities to head to the foul line, as the 32-20 foul disparity allowed SMU 38 free throw attempts.

“When you come on the road, the home team is going to get a couple of more calls than you will,” senior forward Bingo Merriex said. “So that is to be expected.”

The team also missed three three-point attempts in the closing seconds to send the game into a second overtime.

Junior Blount led the squad with 33 points, and impressed Dougherty by wanting the ball.

“I think Junior played the way we expect him to play and probably need him to play every game, Dougherty said. “What was really a good thing for me to see in Junior is he wanted the basketball every time we needed a basket.”

Blount also collected a team-high 26 points in Friday night’s 91-81 victory over the Bearkats.

The score was tied at 19 a piece against Sam Houston with just over 11 minutes left in the first half. After a media timeout, the Frogs proceeded to make an 11-0 run, propelling the team to a 47-35 halftime lead.

Sam Houston, led by forward Felton Freeman, battled to keep the game close. Freeman went 13-for-15, including 7-of-7 from three point range for a game-high 36 points.

However the Frogs never let the Bearkats closer than eight, and held on for the win.

Sophomore guard Corey Santee added 23 points against Sam Houston, while Merriex pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.

Junior guard Ron Hobbs also had 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. Hobbs, who had two points in the two exhibition games, said he was excited to be playing after transferring here from Texas Tech last year.

“It felt good to get back on to the court,” Hobbs said. “This is my hometown. I think I had like 30 people from my family here, so I couldn’t let them down tonight. It was fun playing in front of my homecrowd.”

After Sunday night’s game, Dougherty said rebounding must improve. The Frogs were outrebounded 41-37 by Sam Houston and allowed 15 offensive rebounds to SMU.

However the thing Dougherty emphasized most was attacking the basket.

“Rebounding is the thing talked about, but I think you saw tonight (against SMU) where trying to finish over bigger guys in traffic was a problem,” Dougherty said. “So we got to still come up with some more ways where we can attack our opponents basket, instead of having to be a perimeter jumpshooting team all the time.”

Danny Gillham