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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

DePaul men’s basketball beats down hapless Grambling State 96-58

Thanks to huge efforts from Cleveland Melvin and freshman Tommy Hamilton IV, DePaul throttled Grambling State 96-58 Saturday to kick off a new year of Blue Demon basketball.

The Blue Demons used a 20-5 run to take control after a sloppy start as they cruised to victory in their only on-campus game of the season.

Melvin scored 17 points, hitting all five of his three pointers, and Hamilton netted a double-double in his first career game with 16 points and game-high 11 rebounds.

“I got very comfortable (shooting the ball) during the offseason,” Melvin said. “I have been working on my ball handling, shooting. I definitely got comfortable out there and I was comfortable on the court.”

The DePaul bench scored 49 points, led by sophomore Durrell McDonald with 10 points. Freshman guard R.J. Curington and junior forward Greg Sequele chipped in with eight points apiece.

Blue Demons head coach Oliver Purnell was satisfied with the result and hopes this continues during the rest of the season.

“This is really about us and our approach to our home opener and we want to establish a habit to get ourselves ready to play and we did that,” Purnell said.

Grambling State finished 0-28 last season but that didn’t deter Purnell from ensuring that his team would be ready to play hard.

“It was important to start well, which we did, and sprint into the half. It was really important for us to come out in the second half really engaged and ready because if you can sprint out in the first and second half and do well, most of the time you will be in control of the game,” Purnell said.

Although pleased with the effort, Purnell told his players after the game to be prepared for what lies ahead.

“We have to use the next game and the next game to continue to improve, but I thought all three pre-season games were good preparation tools for us, so we can continue to improve,” Purnell said.

Hamilton, who played his first college regular season game, credited one change which has helped him in practice and he believes will help him during the season.

“When I started this summer I was 288 pounds and now I weigh 267 pounds,” he said. “Me and (trainer Mac Calloway) work every hour of the day. I have to check with him every hour to let him know what I had been eating.”

Tigers’ first year head coach Joseph Price, who played under Richard “Digger” Phelps at Notre Dame, was happy with their performance despite the final score.

“We executed decently, it is our first time playing against competition,” Price said. “We were not able to have exhibition games or practice scrimmages. So it was tough for us,” said Price.

Grambling State also played shorthanded, dressing only nine players for the contest while two players wait to play and their star player was not able to play because of personal issues.

With the loss, Grambling State has lost 29 games in a row dating back to the 2012-2013 season their last win was on March 3, 2012 when they defeated Alabama A&M 75-72 in overtime.

DePaul plays their next game Nov. 13 in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Allstate Arena against Southern Mississippi.

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