Box Score
SAN ANTONIO— The Rattlers defeated Texas Lutheran in their first meeting in 13 seasons Saturday afternoon in Bill Greehey Arena, 73-64, putting them on a three-game winning streak.
Christian Bower (Sr., Chandler Ariz.) and
Isaiah Matthews (RS-Jr., Texas City, Texas) led the Rattlers with 12 points apiece while
Marvin Binney (Jr., Toronto, Ontario) added 11 points and
Justin Alexander (Jr., San Antonio) chipped in 10.
Newcomer
Ife Eke (RS-Jr., Lagos, Nigeria) dominated the boards with a game-high 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of play. Alexander and Matthews also contributed on the boards, adding seven and eight rebounds, respectively.
Going to halftime the Rattlers had a solid lead, 40-29, shaking off a slow start that had them scoreless until three minutes into the game. They out-rebounded the Bulldogs 27-12 that helped push the lead that was sparked by three straight 3-pointers from Bower.
In the second half, however, the Bulldogs (0-1) fought back, forcing eight turnovers and capitalizing on the Rattlers' fouls by shooting 11-15 from the line.
A total of 59 fouls were committed between both teams throughout the game with nine fouls called on the Rattlers in the last six minutes of the game, which helped the Bulldogs cut their deficit from 15 to nine.
Matthews, whose powerful dunk late in the second half helped to seal the Rattlers' (3-1) victory, knows the importance of going into games with a high level of intensity.
With so many new faces on the floor, Matthews is aware of what it takes to build upon the success of previous seasons.
"Our main focus is to go hard and go at 100 percent," said Matthews of the new team dynamic that includes nine new Rattlers. "We have a lot of new players that are trying to learn the plays and that's going to take time. But as long as we're going hard and defending and rebounding, we're going to be good."
The Rattlers will continue their home stand at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as they face St. Thomas in Bill Greehey Arena.
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.
