Box Score
LAREDO, Texas — The St. Mary's men's basketball team has picked the right time to heat up.
Kevin Kotzur scored 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting and hauled in 10 rebounds to lead the Rattlers past Texas A&M International 57-52 in the regular-season finale Saturday, setting the scene for next week's Heartland Conference Tournament.
The win marked the Rattlers' seventh in the last eight games — and it comes at a time when the rest of the Heartland Conference looks to be cooling down.
Regular-season champion Arkansas-Fort Smith closed the regular season on a two-game skid and has lost five of its last nine games. Meanwhile, Newman, whose 9-5 conference record equals St. Mary's, fell to St. Edward's in the regular-season finale. It was the Jets' third loss in the last six games and their fifth loss in the last 11 games.
St. Mary's (19-7, 9-5) and Newman will meet up in the semifinals Friday in Fort Smith, Ark., while host UA Fort Smith and TAMIU will also square off.
On Saturday, the Rattlers led the Dustdevils by as many as 11 points in the first half, though the game still ended up coming down to the wire.
Leading 53, 52 with 23 seconds remaining,
Daryell Taylor (Sr., Houston) went 4 for 4 at the free-throw line over the final 20 seconds to seal the win. Taylor scored 15 in the game, going 5 of 12 from the floor. Point guard
Christian Bower (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) added five points, six assists and three rebounds.
The Rattlers outrebounded the Dustdevils 34-21 and held TAMIU to 1-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.
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.
