IRVING, Texas â€" Texas Lutheran's string of second-half road comebacks came to an end Saturday night in a 73-68 conference loss to the University of Dallas.
 
In the Maher Athletic Center, the Bulldogs fell behind by as many as 16 in the first half and trailed by 11 at the half. TLU cut the Dallas lead to one, at 69-68, with 1:35 to play but could not take the lead against the Crusaders.
 
Dallas (11-6, 2-5 SCAC) led the entire game. Kym Malone's offensive rebound in the final minute and a subsequent TLU foul put Malone on the free throw line, where he made both.
 
TLU turned the ball over on its next possession, and then missed three three-pointers in the final 19 seconds while Dallas made two more foul shots.
 
The Bulldogs dropped to 10-8 overall and to 5-2 in the SCAC. TLU now trails Centenary (La.) by a half game in the SCAC men's basketball standings.
 
TLU had won back-to-back conference road games, against Trinity and against Austin College, after trailing by at least nine.
 
Against Dallas, TLU struggled in the first half from the floor and from the three-point line. The Bulldogs went 7-for-27 overall and 1-for-7 at the arc.
 
The Bulldogs second-half shooting improved, up to 45.9 percent for the half, but the three-point shot remained elusive. TLU went 3-for-14 from the three-point line in the final 20 minutes and finished 4-for-21 for the game.
 
Donte McGee (Victoria/Memorial/Texas A&M-Kingsville) scored 15 and grabbed nine rebounds for the Bulldogs. McGee went 6-for-12 from the field and had six offensive rebounds.
 
Sterling Holmes (San Antonio/Antonian/Richland College) and Garrett Wilkins (Austin/Connally/Colorado Northwestern CC) each added 10 points. Holmes collected four rebounds, and Wilkins dished out three assists.
 
Malone led Dallas with 19 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals. He went 11-for-13 at the free throw line.
 
Aaron Wyatt registered 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocs for the Crusaders.
 
The Bulldogs return home to Memorial Gymnasium for games next Friday and Saturday against Austin College and Dallas. All four games (women's and men's) will have live video webcasts and live stats on tlubulldogs.com. Friday's games also will have radio broadcast by Seguin's KWED 1580 AM.