Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's
Kevin Kotzur entered Thursday night in pursuit of a pair of hallowed records, closing in on the Heartland Conference's career scoring mark and the school's all-time rebounding record.
But by the end of the night, the only record the senior could focus on was the one that shows up in the standings.
And that one, unfortunately, took a dent.
Kotzur scored 24 points on 12-of-18 shooting to become the Heartland Conference's all-time leading scorer and hauled in 11 rebounds to tie the school's all-time rebounding mark, but it all seemed less significant to the big man following a gut-wrenching, 65-62 loss to Dallas Baptist at Bill Greehey Arena.
“It doesn't matter right now,” said Kotzur, a senior from La Vernia, Texas, who finished the night with 1,890 career points and 960 career rebounds. “The team lost. Maybe I can enjoy it later.”
The Rattlers overcame a 20-point deficit in the first half, only to fall in the waning seconds as
Daryell Taylor's off-balance attempt at a game-tying 3-pointer missed the mark as time expired. The Rattlers (17-7, 8-5 in Heartland Conference) could have clinched a Heartland Conference Tournament berth with a win.
St. Mary's was outshot 17-7 at the free-throw line, yielding 23 attempts to the Patriots (9-14, 5-6), while surrendering six 3-pointers in the loss.
Shooting guard
Moses Sundufu (Sr., Hopkins, Minn.) scored 10 points and
Christian Bower (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) added seven to go along with five assists.
But Kotzur was the center of attention from the start, scoring eight of the Rattlers' first 10 points to open the game. Needing eight points to become the conference's all-time leading scorer, the three-time All-Region selection passed Incarnate Word's Pierce Caldwell (1,873) at the 13:38 mark of the first half to take the crown.
Then, in the waning minutes of the game, he also grabbed his 11th board — notching his 41st career double-double — to tie Elliott Henderson as the Rattlers' all-time rebounding leader.
(Note: Winston Miles is officially listed as St. Mary's No. 2 all-time leading rebounder with 959 but is missing statistics from the 1960 season).
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” said Kotzur of a start that saw the Patriots jump to a 33-13 lead nearing the five-minute-mark of the first half. “We came out flat and they capitalized on it.”
Still, sensing the magnitude of the moment, Kotzur took to Twitter afterward to show his gratitude — and to provide his teammates a motivational message.
“I want to thank everybody that has been along for this incredible journey that I have been able to embark on family, friends, teammates,” he tweeted. “Coaches, etc thank you for being there every step of the way, I really wish tonight would have ended better but we have more work to do.”
He added: “To my teammates we can't let this get us down, we must get stronger from it and grind till we can't grind no more we have to show more heart.”
St. Mary's showed that heart late in the first half, closing the 20-point deficit to 11 thanks to a 15-6 run that left it trailing 39-28 at the break.
The Rattlers took a brief lead, 54-52, on a Kotzur layup with 5:35 left in the second half, but the Patriots answered immediately to tie it back up and eventually regain the lead for good.
St. Mary's will retake the court Saturday when it hosts Oklahoma Christian at 4 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena. The Rattlers will celebrate Senior Day and also celebrate Kotzur's historic achievements prior to the game, which marks the squad's final regular-season home contest.
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.
