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Scoreboard

Men's Basketball Championship
Antonio Morano Photography
The Rattlers celebrate their Heartland Conference postseason title.
60
St. Edward's SEU 22-8
63
Winner St. Mary's STMUMB 20-9
St. Edward's SEU
22-8
60
Final
63
St. Mary's STMUMB
20-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
St. Edward's SEU 23 37 60
St. Mary's STMUMB 29 34 63

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

CHAMPS! StMU downs SEU in title game

By Robin Johnson | St. Mary's Athletics Communications 

SAN ANTONIO — It took 10 years, but home court was well worth it. 
 
St. Mary's Men's Basketball was crowned the Heartland Conference postseason champions Saturday at Bill Greehey Arena, defeating long standing rival and No. 2 seed St. Edward's, 63-60, after the Rattlers earned the right to host for the first time since the 2005 season.
 
The memorable victory, enhanced by a vibrant home crowd, advances the Rattlers to the South Central Regional tournament for the fourth straight season.
 
The Rattlers cut down the net Saturday for the second time this season as the Snakes also claimed the regular-season title, the first for head coach Jim Zeleznak.
 
The postseason title crown marks Zeleznak's fourth conference tournament championship as head coach and third title in four seasons.
 
Leading the championship tournament was senior Marvin Binney (Toronto, Canada) who was named the Tournament MVP after scoring a team-high 15 points and leading in rebounds with six.  
 
Binney, an All-Conference First Team selection, also scored 16 points in the semifinal round against UA Fort Smith.
 
The trek to the title game was due in major part to Kriston Minor's game tying three-pointer in the semifinals to force overtime against the Lions, earning him a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
 
A crowd of over 800 fans witnessed a championship show from the Rattlers, which saw four of its five-senior starting lineup record double figures.
 
Binney led with 15 points followed by Isaiah Matthews (RS-Sr., Texas City, Texas) with 13 while Justin Alexander (Sr., San Antonio) and Marvin Whitt (Sr., Birmingham, Ala.) each chipped in 11 apiece.
 
Matthews, a storied five-year player of the program, fired out of the last tipoff of his career at Bill Greehey Arena, scoring eight of the Rattlers' first 10 points to start the game.
 
Alexander then traded in Matthews' energy by going on a tear of his own to help push the Rattlers to maintain a slim lead over the Hilltoppers (22-8), which they took over five minutes into the game and never released.
 
Senior JJ Bolton (Beaumont, Miss.) empathically ended the first half, grabbing a steal off his man-to-man press to bank a layup as the buzzer sounded to put the Rattlers in a six-point lead at the half, 29-23.
 
The Rattlers swelled their lead to 15 by 13:53 on the clock but the Toppers sliced back to make it a six-point game, 56-50, with 3:13 left in the game.
 
The Snakes would make 7 of 8 free throws down to the wire to seal the victory including four from Whitt who went off in the final frame, scoring all of his 11 points in the last half.
 
Bolton sunk both his free shots with 14 seconds remaining followed by Whitt sinking his two with five seconds remaining. Both pairs were for good measure as the Hilltoppers swished a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it a three-point Rattler victory, 63-60.
 
The Rattlers have punched their ticket to the South Central Region tournament, improving to 20-9 with the title win.
 
Check back with RattlerAthletics.com for details about the upcoming regional tournament, as the NCAA will announce seedings and matchups during a selection show at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.  

 
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