Box Score
ABILENE, Texas — St. Mary's
Kevin Kotzur took one step closer to becoming the Heartland Conference's all-time leading scorer Saturday, while his Rattlers took one step closer to securing their conference-tournament bid.
Kotzur scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help the Rattlers erase an 11-point deficit in a 68-62 win over McMurry University, leaving St. Mary's in need of just one more conference win to punch its ticket to the conference tournament.
Kotzur (Sr., La Vernia, Texas), meanwhile, now sits just eight points away from becoming the Heartland's all-time leading scorer, a title currently held by former Incarnate Word Cardinal Pierce Caldwell (1,873 career points). Kotzur also needs just 12 more rebounds to become St. Mary's all-time leading rebounder, passing Elliott Henderson (960).
Daryell Taylor (Sr., Houston) added 18 points against McMurry (14-8), while
Fred Wilson (Jr., Seattle) chipped in eight off the bench in a game St. Mary's trailed 36-25 at the break before coming alive in the second half.
The Rattlers (17-6) shot nearly 60 percent from the floor in the second half, going on an 11-2 run to trail 42-40 nearing the midway point of the half.
St. Mary's tied the game at 44-44 on a
Moses Sundufu (Sr., Hopkins, Minn.) fastbreak layup off a steal with just under 12 minutes remaining, helping turn the tide permanently in the Rattlers' favor. The Rattlers never trailed by more than one point after that sequence, and led for good following an
Isaiah Matthews (RS-So., Texas City, Texas) free throw with 5:34 left.
St. Mary's hit 14 of 17 free throws in the game and went 6 of 15 from 3-point range, while holding McMurry to 0 for 6 from beyond the arc.
The Rattlers will return to the floor Thursday, when they host Dallas Baptist in a pivotal Heartland battle at 7:30 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena. The game will be aired live on RattlerAthletics.com.
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.
