In the men’s basketball season opener, the Wildcats defeated the McMurry University Warhawks 92-55 at Moody Coliseum on Monday.
The win extends Head Coach Brette Tanner’s opening game winning streak to four in a row.
Despite the score being 41-22 at the half, the Wildcat offense was not performing to its full capacity. The team shot 44.1% from the field and 20% from three in the first half.
In the second half, the offense erupted, scoring 51 points, shooting 54% from the field and 40% from three. To end the game, the Wildcats went on a 24-10 run that lasted nearly 10 minutes.
Joseph Scott, junior forward from Baltimore, led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding with 16 points and 17 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Scott is one of six new faces who joined the team during the offseason.
“That’s him working,” Tanner said. “He’s getting rebounds outside of his area. That’s what we recruited him to do.”
Four other new players also saw significant minutes in Monday’s game, with two of them starting. Zy Wright, senior guard from Lincolnton, Georgia, and Cbo Newton, redshirt sophomore guard from Ruston, Louisiana. Wright and Newton scored 13 and five points respectively.
Two out of the three freshmen played big minutes for the team as well–Tylan Lewis, guard from Nashville, and Isaac Dye, guard from State College, Pennsylvania. Lewis had six points and six rebounds in 17 minutes. Dye had five points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.
Joseph Venzant, redshirt senior guard from Midland, made his return to the lineup after missing the majority of last season due to a shoulder injury that allowed him to play in only eight games. He finished the game with six points in 20 minutes.
He said it felt good to be back on the court with his teammates. He also added that his shoulder did not pop out of place, which was part of his injury from last season.
“When you have an injury and you’re out for a long time,” Venzant said, “you notice that you might have taken the game a little for granted when you’re missing that.”
The Wildcats will face the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks next on Thursday at Moody Coliseum. Last season they defeated Omaha 71-55 on the road. Omaha went on to be a 15-seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the first round.
Omaha comes into Thursday’s game off an 85-77 loss to Murray State on Monday.
“They’re going to want to come in here and turn the page,” Tanner said. “They’re going to be hungry, but we’ve got to be hungrier.”
