SAN ANTONIO – Freshman Josh Morgan logged 17 points, a team-high three assists and three rebounds, while Keaston Willis scored in double figures to lead the University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball program to an 84-71 win over Our Lady of the Lake on Sunday afternoon in the McDermott Center.
The Cardinals' first win of 2020-21 marked the 600th win in the program's 41-year history, since its inaugural season in 1980-81.
UIW (1-1) turned around a 38 percent shooting percentage against Rice on Friday and stormed back with a 58.2 percent (32-of-55) performance against the Saints. Willis again led the Cardinals with 18 points, 13 of them coming in the first half as the sophomore shot 4-for-7 from the field with a trey and went 9-of-10 from the line.
The Cardinals and Our Lady of the Lake (0-2) battled through the first nine minutes of the game before Morgan laid in a fast break layup to give UIW a one-point lead (16-15). Morgan then added two free throws on the next possession to push the lead to three with just under ten minutes left in the half. From there, UIW stayed on the gas and never relinquished the lead, keeping it to a nine-point advantage or more over the next 30 minutes.
With four minutes to play in the half, redshirt senior Des Balentine drained a trey to add a ten-point (29-19) cushion before UIW closed the first half with a 40-28 lead. Balentine led UIW's first-half stifling defense with seven rebounds, while sophomore Marcus Larsson and Willis each had five; the Cardinals limited OLLU to 35.3 percent (12-of-34) shooting and just 1-of-7 from beyond-the-arc.
Morgan finished the first half with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting, a trey and 2-of-2 from the line as the Cardinals shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) overall.
Fortunately for the Cardinals, the second half was an extension of the first. They stormed out to a 19-point lead (52-33) in the first five minutes as sophomore Drew Lutz drove through the Saints' defense and added a touch off the glass, prompting an OLLU timeout.
The Saints were only able to get as close as a nine-point deficit (59-50) as Ruben Monzon hit a layup to cut UIW's lead. But a 69.2 percent (18-of-26) shooting performance by the Cardinals kept the game out of reach.
Larsson scored ten points in the second half and added three assists; redshirt sophomore Brandon Swaby and freshman GG Ezedinma both scored seven points as Ezedinma added an exclamation dunk with 5:48 left in the game for a 73-53 lead.
Our Lady of the Lake was led by a trio of double-digit scorers in David Johnson (18), Monzon (10) and Jordan Embry (10). Monzon led the Saints' defensive effort with seven rebounds, six from the defensive end.
COACH CUNNINGHAM SAID:
"The guys came out with the right defensive mindset and we are going to continually work on toughness and make that a theme this season. I thought they had the right mindset in the opening half, and our freshman were able to come in and we need them to have that toughness mindset too. Toughness is going to be our focus and it is something we are going to talk about all year. We are going to continue developing that mindset this season."
"Josh Morgan was fantastic and tough for us. He is a very strong pick-and-roll player that we could have used on Friday, but we are really grateful he is here and he really did well today."
UP NEXT
The Cardinals are back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 2, with a trip to Wyoming at 7 p.m. CT
STAY TUNED
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