SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Visiting Our Lady of the Lake University knocked off the University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team on Tuesday night, 99-97 thanks to a barrage of three-pointers at the McDermott Center.

The Saints (3-3) raced out to an early 15-point lead courtesy of their long-range prowess.  They hit their first five three-point attempts in the first five minutes of the game and they took a 25-10 lead after a fast break layup by Brandell Collins with 12:18 to play in the first half.

The Cardinals (3-5) got back in the game by going inside to Shawn Johnson (New Orleans, LA/Alief Hastings HS) and finally getting their first two three-pointers of the game from Jontrell Walker (Aurora, IL/West Aurora HS) and Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) to get to within two points with 6:59 left in the first half.  A pair of three-pointers by Alex Sattley pushed the OLLU lead back to nine points, but UIW was able to pull to within four points at halftime.

The Cardinals opened the second half by making seven of their first eight shots, all on layups or dunks.  They took their first lead on a Derail Green (Houston/Klein Forest HS) layup with 15:43 remaining.  The Saints quickly reclaimed the lead after making a trio of three-pointers in a two-minute span to make it 69-63 in favor of the visitors.

Hittle kept the Cardinals in the game to set the stage for an exciting final five minutes.  The teams traded blows with the Saints scoring a pair of conventional three-point plays only to be answered by Walker who drained three-pointers on three straight possessions for UIW with the last tying the game at 89-89 with 3:30 to play.  Hittle and Walker scored the final 21 points of the game for the Cardinals, but the team was hamstrung in the final minutes after Walker and point guard Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy Falls HS) both fouled out.

The hero for the Saints was guard Dilepso Blanco who scored the team's final 12 points, including a layup with 35 seconds left that proved to be the winning margin.  The Cardinals had three chances to tie or win the game in the final 10 seconds.  The first was an open three-pointer from the corner that rimmed in-and-out, the second was a missed free throw and the third was an offensive rebound by Johnson off a missed-on-purpose free throw, but he was smothered by the Saints and could not get off a good shot attempt before the final horn sounded.

The Cardinals shot a season best 56.1 percent from the field, made 6-of-18 from three-point range and were 27-of-33 from the charity stripe.  Hittle led the team with 29 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals while going 10-of-16 from the field.  Walker tallied 28 points and five assists and was a perfect 10-for-10 at the foul line running his season mark to 33-of-34.  Johnson posted his second double-double of the season with a career-high 19 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and four dunks.  Badillo dished out seven assists and became the second player in school history to eclipse 400 assists in a career.  The team had seven more rebounds than the Saints, but committed three more turnovers.

The Saints shot 52.9 percent from the field and were 17-of-27 from three-point range.  Their one struggle in the game was at the foul line where they were 10-for-20.  Blanco led the team with 24 points and four assists.  Four other players scored in double figures including 17 from Olajuwon Garner off the bench as he made a team high four three-pointers.  Darion Brown directed the offense with 11 assists in only 19 minutes due to foul problems.

The Cardinals go on the road on Friday when they travel to St. John's University for a 6 p.m. tip-off.  The game will be shown on Fox Sports 1 nationally.
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