Melvin, DePaul defeat Texas-Pan American 91-72
CHICAGO (AP)—Cleveland Melvin scored 17 points and Brandon Young added 10 as DePaul defeated Texas-Pan American 91-72 in a season opener Friday night.
Brandon Provost finished with 16 and Jared Maree 14 for Texas-Pan American.
Krys Faber finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for the Blue Demons, and Moses Morgan scored 16 points.
DePaul, playing a rare home game on campus, led the entire way after jumping to a 10-0 lead. However, Melvin limped off the court after injuring his left foot with a minute left. Young also had seven assists and five rebounds.
Morgan hit a 3-pointer and Young set up Faber for an easy dunk. Young put the crowd on its feet with a no-look midcourt alley-oop dunk to Melvin to give the Blue Demons a 36-17 edge. DePaul led 46-33 at the half.
Maree hit a 3-pointer to cut DePaul’s lead to 51-43 with 16:14 left. Jesus Delgado made a free throw and a breakaway layup to get Pan American within 53-48. But DePaul answered with a 3-pointer from Melvin and a layup by Young to go back up by 10 with 12:20 left.
Melvin’s putback and Young’s layup after a Broncs turnover made it 63-50. Morgan later hit a 3 to make it 75-55 with 6:59 left.
Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau took in the game, and coveted 2013 recruit Jabari Parker sat in the front row behind the DePaul bench.
