TCU
0-1
#Tarleton State
3-0
Horned Frogs fall in season opener
11/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2005
FORT WORTH, Texas -- LaShon Sheffield scored 17 points while Texas Tech transfer Mookie Works posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds as Tarleton State, the top-ranked team in Division II, posted a 68-59 victory over TCU tonight at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas.The Horned Frogs (0-1) saw their 24-game winning streak in home openers snapped. TCU's last loss in a home debut had been 53-52 to Westmont College on Nov. 28, 1980. The Frogs also fell in a season opener for the first time since the 1999-00 campaign.
The game was tied 33-33 at the intermission before the Texans opened the second half with an 11-4 run to take a 44-37 lead on a Sheffield 3-pointer with 14:07 to play.
TCU countered with a 14-5 spurt, capped by seven consecutive points from Nile Murry, to go on top 51-49 with 8:44 remaining. Murry topped the Frogs with 19 points while Judson Stubbs scored 12.
The Texans (3-0) took the lead for good with 2:36 to play when Sheffield hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night to put Tarleton State up 58-56. It also began a spurt of eight straight points for the Texans as they closed the game on a 13-3 run over the final 3:02.
A Neiman Owens' 3-pointer with 58 seconds remaining pulled TCU within 63-59. However, that would be the Frogs' final points of the contest.
John Davis then converted a 3-point play off a layup and free-throw to give the Texans a 66-59 lead with 47 seconds to play.
Tarleton State held a 43-29 rebounding edge. The Texans shot 41.3 percent for the game while holding the Frogs to a 33.3 mark, including 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) over the final 20 minutes. The Texans' bench outscored the Frogs' reserves 18-5.
TCU went the opening 9:25 of the second half without a field goal before a Brent Hackett 3-pointer. Hackett scored a career-high nine points.
"It's tough to continue to compete when you can't get anything going offensively," TCU coach Neil Dougherty said. "If there's a bright spot, it's that our kids didn't quit.
"We'll get over it (the loss). The season is so long and it's so early. We'll use this game as a learning tool. We've got a lot of work to do."
The Frogs scored the game's opening six points. Tarleton State took its first lead of the night at 27-25 on a Davis layup with 4:21 remaining in the first half. The Texan advantage lasted only seven seconds, however, as Hackett answered with a 3-pointer on the Frogs' ensuing possession to put TCU back on top 28-27.
A 3-pointer by Sheffield gave Tarleton State a 33-31 advantage with 2:02 to play before the intermission. Murry hit a jumper to even the contest at 33-33 at the half.
The Texans' two first-half leads lasted a total of 22 seconds.
The Frogs forced 17 Texan turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, negating Tarleton State's 21-10 first-half rebounding advantage. The Texans committed just seven turnovers in the second half.
TCU will be home again Tuesday at 7 p.m. versus Jackson State.
