Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

St. Mary's University Athletics

Official Athletics Site of St. Mary's University

Scoreboard

Mccullough_Nikau_MBB_18_Regis_502
Antonio Morano Photography
58
St. Mary's Univ. STMARYS 3-2
61
Winner A&M-Corpus Christi AMCC 4-2
St. Mary's Univ. STMARYS
3-2
58
Final
61
A&M-Corpus Christi AMCC
4-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
St. Mary's Univ. STMARYS 30 28 58
A&M-Corpus Christi AMCC 21 40 61

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men's Hoops almost pull off major upset

By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletics Communications

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – It was oh, so close to an upset on Wednesday evening as the St. Mary's men's basketball team lost an exhibition game at Division I Texas A&M Corpus-Christi 61-58, but the Rattlers had the Islander fans scared in their seats for most of the night.

It may have looked like a David vs Goliath situation, a Division I team taking on an under-matched Division II team for the first minute as the Islanders quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but anyone who has paid attention recently knows there's no such thing anymore. The Rattlers fought back to twice take a nine-point lead in the first half, including a 30-21 half-time advantage. The Islanders chipped away in the second half, eventually gaining the lead, however they were never able to pull away or gain a lead of more than four. The Rattlers had a good look at tying the game and sending it to overtime at the buzzer, but the Islanders secured the victory. The game does not count towards StMU's record and they remain at 3-2 on the year.

The team finally returns home to host the annual River City Classic Tournament on Friday and Saturday. St. Mary's will face Talladega on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and host Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday at the same time. In the early games, Texas A&M International will face the Storm on Friday at 3 p.m. and the Tornadoes on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Junior guard Markques Houston (Houston, Texas) led the Rattlers in scoring for the third consecutive game, putting up 13 points all in the first half, while senior forward Petar Radojicic (Ljubovija, Serbia) added 10 points for his fifth-straight game in double figure points and he led the club with seven rebounds. Both senior guard Skyler Brooks (Seguin, Texas) and junior guard Nikau McCullough (Hamilton, New Zealand) narrowly missed out on double figures with nine points each.

Freshman point guard Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) led the club with four assists, while fellow freshman Timmy Benavides (San Antonio) – seeing his first court action of the year – was right behind him with three dimes – and he had three of the team's four steals. Also seeing his first playing time of the year was junior forward Curtlon Wesley (Houston, Texas), who grabbed down six boards and blocked a shot. Sophomore forward Matej Gaspert (Zagreb, Croatia) led the team with two rejections.

Head Coach Jim Zeleznak knows the importance getting everyone experience in a game like this and the all 11 active players on the roster played at least 10 minutes in the contest, 9-of-11 scored at least three points and 10-of-11 garnered at least one rebound.

Corpus Christi was led by Kareem South with a game-high 15 points, while Myles Smith added 11 and Jashawn Talton had a game-high nine rebounds. The Islanders also used 11 players, with 9-of-11 scoring at least one point.

Tickets are still available for the River City Classic and the St. Mary's staff wishes everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.
 
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors