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Scoreboard

Justin Alexander
Robin Johnson
Justin Alexander puts up a hook shot against Tarleton State.
52
St. Mary's (TX) STMUMB 20-10
71
Winner Tarleton State TSU 28-3
St. Mary's (TX) STMUMB
20-10
52
Final
71
Tarleton State TSU
28-3
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
St. Mary's (TX) STMUMB 21 31 52
Tarleton State TSU 30 41 71

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | RattlerAthletics.com

Top-seeded Tarleton State overwhelms StMU at NCAA Tournament

By Chad Peters | St. Mary's Athletics Communications

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — There was no dramatic, 20-point comeback this time around.

St. Mary's Men's Basketball's season came to an end Saturday night, as No. 7-ranked Tarleton State eliminated the Rattlers from the NCAA Division II Tournament with a 71-52 victory at Wisdom Gym.

The top-seeded Texans (28-3) shot 55.1 percent from the floor and dominated the interior with 40 points in the paint to upend the eighth-seeded Snakes (20-10) in the opening round of the South Central Regional.

St. Mary's had won seven in a row coming in, including a magical, 20-point comeback to defeat UA Fort Smith in overtime of the Heartland Conference Tournament semifinals en route to claiming the conference championship.

"In our conference (tournament) we were down 20 and we were able to make a comeback," St. Mary's guard Marvin Binney said. "But when you get to the regional tournament and facing a much better tournament, those kind of things don't happen twice."

The Rattlers twice made a late push to cut the deficit to 16 over the final minutes Saturday, but never could pose a similar threat down the stretch.

St. Mary's was led in scoring by Binney, who scored 18 points to go along with four steals and four assists. Kriston Minor and Ryan Thomas chipped in 10 points apiece.

"They did a better job of what they do than we did," St. Mary's head coach Jim Zeleznak said. "That kind of leaves you with the final result. They just did a much better job."

St. Mary's never could get going offensively, as Tarleton State's athleticism and length along the perimeter got the Rattlers out of their offense throughout the night. The Texans built a 30-21 halftime lead after forcing St. Mary's into 10 first-half turnovers and a 38.9-percent (7 of 18) shooting clip from the floor.

Things didn't get any easier in the second half, shooting 37 percent for the game.

Tarleton State's athleticism stung the Rattlers just as much on the offensive end, converting two first-half alley-oops — and a third for its first points of the second half — and adding a breakaway, windmill dunk from Devene Carter that brought the crowd to their feet early in the first half.

In fact, that dunk sparked an 8-0 run for Tarleton State that saw the Texans get out of an early defensive slugfest in which the Rattlers led 3-2 nearly five minutes into the half.

The high-flying Carter led Tarleton State with 21 points.

The run put Tarleton State up seven, 10-3, by the 13:58 mark, a lead the Texans stretched to nine by halftime. The Texans' lead swelled to 22 nine minutes into the second half, when a Hail Mary pass across the court led to an easy breakaway layup for Michael Hardge.

The Texans were shooting 58.8 percent from the floor at that point — including a perfect 8 for 8 from the field — for a stunning percentage against the Rattlers' trademark defense that had led the Heartland Conference in scoring at 66.5 points allowed per game this season.  Tarleton State ended up making its first 11 field goals of the half before finally missing around the eight-minute mark.

The tournament appearance was St. Mary's fourth consecutive regional berth under 10th-year head coach Jim Zeleznak. The Rattlers earned the automatic tournament bid following last week's Heartland Conference Tournament championship, which St. Mary's won in dramatic fashion with that overtime victory against UA Fort Smith before defeating St. Edward's in the championship game.

St. Mary's drops to 5-11 all-time against Tarleton State, which also defeated the Rattlers 75-64 in Stephenville earlier this season. This season marked the first meetings between the teams since 2008.

The Texans advance to play the winner of Saturday night's clash between Colorado Mines and Colorado-Colorado Springs. 
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