St. Edward’s University men’s basketball came out fast and fiery at home against Southwestern University, rushing out to a 16-2 lead and forcing five turnovers in the first three-plus minutes of the game, making the Pirates call their first timeout almost three minutes into the first half.
“This is 100% assistant coach Jeff Evans’ influence,” St. Edward’s head coach Andre Cook said. “It’s annoying, nothing is easy. You’re getting trapped and run at, you can’t get in any offense. There is no easy, ‘let’s run our stuff.’”
The Hilltoppers’ second unit, anchored by guards Luke Kiser and Latiek Briscoe came in with 14:26 in the first half, following the early surge and kept the offense humming along to protect SEU’s 30-13 lead.
The Hilltoppers offense would go scoreless for nearly four minutes, until guard Gavino Ramos hit one of two free throws on a flagrant foul.
Guard Conor McManus led the Hilltoppers in scoring at the break with 16 points, including a 5-0 run by himself in the final 43 seconds of the half, just beating the buzzer on a layup after he picked off a Pirate pass at half court with 13 seconds remaining, to put the Hilltoppers up 46-22.
The Hilltoppers put together another first start to open up the second half, two Pirates turnovers turned into consecutive threes by McManus, and guard Mason Courtney ballooned the lead 58-28 just over three minutes into the second half.
The Hilltoppers drained 6-of-8 3-pointers to extend its lead to 70-34 at the 11:36 media timeout. SEU turned on cruise control in the final minutes, inserting its reserves into the game, gliding to a 95-47 win, moving to an 11-0 all-time record in their meetings dating back to 2012.
“It’s a lot of fun,” McManus said. “My teammates keep finding me and giving me confidence. All of the credit goes to them.”
St. Edward’s started Lone Star Conference play on the road with two losses; falling 87-72 to Lubbock Christian University on Nov. 21 and trailing by one point in a 63-62 loss to Midwestern State University on Nov. 23. The Hilltoppers return to home court on Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. against Sul Ross State University.
