Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's men's basketball team made an impressive home debut Tuesday night, surging past Texas A&M-Kingsville 80-65 at Bill Greehey Arena.
The Rattlers went to halftime only leading by seven, 44-37, but enjoyed a spark from
Joe Monroe in the second half — including a dunk, nine points, four rebounds and a block — that proved to be just what the squad needed
"Coach said it was going to be a hard-fought game tonight," said Monroe (R-Jr., San Antonio) of the Rattlers' battle against the Javelinas, which saw a tight battle early with six lead changes and two ties in the first half. "I think everybody came out with the intention of being aggressive."
Monroe, who finished with 11 points, and the Rattlers (2-1) dominated in the post area, scoring 42 of their 80 points in the paint and out-rebounding the Javelinas (0-1) 48-28.
"We knew that we needed to go to the post area because their strong point is their guards," Monroe said. "So our mentality was to try to beat them up and win the battle on the boards."
Justin Alexander (Jr., San Antonio) and
JJ Bolton (Jr., Beaumont, Miss.) led the team in rebounds with eight each, while
Isaiah Matthews (R-Jr., Texas City, Texas),
Ryan Thomas (Jr., Riverton, Utah) and
Marvin Binney (Jr., Toronto) chipped in five apiece.
The Rattlers also had a strong showing offensively with four players scoring in double digits. Matthews led the team with 15 points, followed by Alexander with 12, and
Fred Wilson (Sr., Seattle) Monroe with 11 apiece.
The Rattlers look to keep building upon their season as they take on Texas Lutheran University at 3 p.m. Saturday at Bill Greehey Arena.
"We need to keep playing," Monroe said of all the new faces on the squad. "It's a process. We just need to keep nagging at it. I'm really anxious to see where we end up this year."
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
