Siena Heights Downs Men’s Basketball, 104-73

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ADRIAN, Mich. — Second-year head coach Craig Covington and the Marygrove men’s basketball fell on the road to Siena Heights, 104-73, on Saturday (Feb. 7) in Adrian. The 31-point defeat drops the Mustangs to 3-23 overall and 1-17 in WHAC play with just four games remaining on the 2014-15 slate. The Saints improved to 10-16 overall and 6-12 in the WHAC with the win, moving to within a game of the eighth-and-final conference playoff seed.

The host Saints jumped out to a 12-2 lead early, forcing Covington to call a timeout with 15:33 remaining in the opening half. The Saints ballooned the lead to 16-2 before Darryll Dixon (Flint, Mich./Hamady High School) found Diante Taylor (Battle Creek, Mich./Central High School) for a transition lay-in to make it 16-4 Saints with 14:15 showing on the game clock.

The Mustangs would go down by as many as 21 points after the Saints’ Jerrell Martin gave the home team a 28-7 lead with 10:23 remaining after converting a layup in traffic. The Mustangs chipped into the large deficit from there, cutting it to 10 (38-28) with 3:30 left in the first half when Dixon slammed home a fast-break dunk.

Dixon’s dunk sparked the Mustangs as Tyler Sykes (Sterling Heights, Mich./Stevenson High School) connected on a  three from the top of the key off of a Kenneth Miller (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc High School) assist, cutting  the Saints’ lead to single digits for the first time since the Covington called the timeout with 15:33 remaining in the opening half.  Sykes’ three-point basket brought the Mustangs to within eight, 40-32, with 1:30 to play before the half.

The Saints closed the half strong to take a 45-32 lead at the break. The Mustangs connected on 12 of their 38 shots in the opening half compared to a 19-for-38 effort from the Saints. The offensive efficiency was the difference in the first half as the Mustangs went into the halftime break down by 13.

Second half action saw the Saints outscore the Mustangs 28-20 over the opening 10 minutes of the latter period, resulting in a 73-52 lead for the hosts. The strong start to the second half was all the Saints needed as they pulled away to defeat the Mustangs by 31 in conference action Saturday evening.

Dixon led the Mustangs with a game-high 27 points on 10-of-23 shooting and a 4-of-10 effort from downtown. Dixon was followed by Taylor who worked his way to another double-double with 19 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. JuJuan Armstrong (Detroit, Mich./UM-Dearborn) added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Mustangs in the setback.

The Saints were paced by Martin with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

The Mustangs visit Lourdes Wednesday (Feb. 11) for an 8 p.m. tip-off.

MEN’S BASKETBALL CONTACT: Tim Johnston | [email protected] /* */ | @tjohnston56
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