SMU saw its post-season run end with a 77-64 loss to Southwest Missouri State at the Hammon Student Center in Springfield, Mo., Thursday night, in the opening round of the 2000 National Invitation Tournament. It was the Mustangs' first post-season appearance since 1993, and second overall appearance in the NIT (1986).
SMU (21-9) controlled the boards early and held a 23-21 lead with 10:11 remaining in the half as the two teams exchanged the lead six different times. Southwest Missouri State (23-10) tied the game at 23-23 with 8:45 remaining and took the lead for good on Eric Judd's three pointer - leading 43-31 at the half.
SMU opened the second half with an 11-5 run to cut the lead to six, but the Bears responded with a 13-0 run over the next 2:14 behind four three pointers to push the lead back to 19 before Damon Hancock stopped the bleeding at 61-44 with a running jumper. The Mustangs would close to within 11 points twice more only to see Southwest Missouri State push the lead back out.
"They [Southwest Missouri State] are a much improved team since we played back in December," Head Coach Mike Dement said. "We made our runs at them, and each time they responded with a big shot and were able to push their lead back out."
Sophomore F DeWayne Floyd recorded his third double-double of the season with a team-high 15 points to go with 11 rebounds, and freshman guard Quinton Ross added 13 points in the loss. SMU's big three of Jeryl Sasser, Willie Davis and Stephen Woods combined for just 21 points on 7-of-29 shooting. Davis, who was named MVP of the Pizza Hut Classic after scoring 25 points in the championship game against the Bears, led the Mustangs with 13 rebounds.
"Jeryl and Willie had a tough time tonight but they are big part of why we were invited to this tournament," Dement said. "We are very honored to have been given the opportunity to play in this tournament but are disappointed we couldn't play better."
With his tip-in with 10:43 remaining in the game, Davis scored his 1,001th career point at SMU, becoming just the eighth junior in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau in his career.
The loss concludes SMU's 1999-2000 season - the best under Dement and fourth best for wins in a season.
SMU vs Southwest Missouri State - Box Score
VISITORS: Southern Methodist 21-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Sasser, Jeryl f 1 8 0 3 3 4 1 3 4 1 5 2 0 0 1 28
34 Davis, Willie f 2 10 0 1 1 6 6 7 13 3 5 1 1 0 1 29
43 Floyd, DeWayne c 6 12 0 2 3 5 5 6 11 2 15 0 1 0 1 30
04 Hancock, Damon g 4 9 0 3 1 2 2 1 3 3 9 1 1 0 0 23
23 Woods, Stephen g 4 11 3 10 0 0 0 1 1 3 11 0 1 0 0 28
03 Bratton, Renaldo 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
12 Anderson, Anthony 0 3 0 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 6
13 Ross, Quinton 5 10 1 4 2 2 5 3 8 1 13 2 1 1 1 27
20 Nabity, Tom 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1
33 Kelley, Jibran 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 9
45 Broer, Copley 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 6
54 Forinash, Jon 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 8
TEAM ........................................ 0 2 2
TOTALS 23 68 5 28 13 25 20 26 46 18 64 7 6 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-39 .308 2nd Half: 11-29 .379 Game: .338 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-15 .200 2nd Half: 2-13 .154 Game: .179 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-10 .400 2nd Half: 9-15 .600 Game: .520 6
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HOME TEAM: Southwest Missouri State 23-10
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
23 Ron BRUTON f 3 8 0 0 2 2 5 2 7 4 8 0 1 0 0 23
33 Allen PHILLIPS f 7 13 3 6 6 6 2 6 8 1 23 4 0 0 0 32
20 Scott BRAKEBILL c 8 12 1 1 2 3 4 4 8 1 19 1 1 2 2 30
12 William FONTLEROY g 4 9 2 4 0 2 0 2 2 2 10 5 2 0 0 32
24 Kevin AULT g 3 10 2 9 0 1 0 2 2 2 8 1 2 0 1 28
00 Matt ENGSTROM 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
21 Eric JUDD 1 3 1 2 0 0 1 2 3 1 3 2 0 0 1 16
25 Charles GAINES 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 10
30 Kurt SPURGEON 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
32 Nic WRIGHT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
34 Brian GEORGE 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
35 Travis WALK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
50 Matt RUETER 2 9 0 0 0 0 3 7 10 2 4 1 2 0 0 23
TEAM ........................................ 0 2 2
TOTALS 29 69 9 24 10 14 17 31 48 14 77 14 8 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-36 .500 2nd Half: 11-33 .333 Game: .420 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-11 .455 2nd Half: 4-13 .308 Game: .375 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2- 2 1.000 2nd Half: 8-12 .667 Game: .714 1
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OFFICIALS: Ron Zetcher, Winston Stith, Kelly Self
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Southern Methodist - none
Southwest Missouri State - none
ATTENDANCE: 6,064
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Southern Methodist 31 33 64
Southwest Missouri State 43 34 77
