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Scoreboard

Jordan_Caleb_20181129_International_05114
Antonio Morano Photography
54
Tex. A&M Int'l TAMIU 3-7
57
Winner St. Mary's (TX) STMU 6-4
Tex. A&M Int'l TAMIU
3-7
54
Final
57
St. Mary's (TX) STMU
6-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Tex. A&M Int'l TAMIU 25 29 54
St. Mary's (TX) STMU 22 35 57

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

Men's Hoops win conference opener

By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletic Communications

SAN ANTONIO – Despite there not being much rhythm to the game, the St. Mary's men's basketball team was able to take advantage of some late turnovers and free throws down the stretch to win its Heartland Conference season opener, 57-54, against Texas A&M International on Thursday evening at Bill Greehey Arena.

In the final 3:02 of the game, the Rattlers (6-3, 1-0) went 7-for-8 at the charity stripe, with two makes each by junior Markques Houston (Houston, Texas), senior Petar Radojicic (Ljubovija, Serbia) and three by senior Dimitri Peterson (San Antonio). The Dust Devils (3-7, 0-1) had the final possession of the game, but were unable to get off a shot in the last eight seconds due to the stifling defense by the Rattlers.

Freshman point guard Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) led the Rattlers with 13 points, while Houston added 12 points, three assists and a game-high three steals, which ties his season high. Both Peterson and senior Skyler Brooks (Seguin, Texas) tied for the team lead with five rebounds.

Tom Higgins led the Dust Devils with 16 points, while Danny Spinuzza added 15 and Brent Finn chipped in 12. Damon Leach led the game with seven rebounds and Spinuzza had a game-high five assists.

St. Mary's won the battle of the rebounds, 27 to 25 and took advantage, scoring 11 points on the fast break, compared to just two for International.

As has been the case recently, the Rattlers struggled shooting in the first half, making just 35 percent of their shots (7-for-20), but came out much better in the second half, connecting on 60 percent (9-of-15). The reason for the low amount of shots taken in the second half was the number of free throws as they went to the line 21 times, making 16 for 76.2 percent. In the game, the Blue & Gold were 20-for-27 (74.1 percent) at the stripe. The Rattlers defense held TAMI to 37 percent shooting for the game (17-of-46) and 40.9 percent from beyond the arc (9-for-22), as well as 84.6 percent at the free throw line (11-for-13).

TAMI jumped out to the early 4-0 lead, but the Rattlers tied up the game off jumpers by Houston and Jordan, respectively and took their first lead at 7-5 after Jordan drained a three-pointer with 14:46 to play. The Dust Devils used an 11-0 run to build a 16-7 lead before Jordan stopped it with a jumper in the paint at the 9:40 mark. A Higgins triple gave TAMI its biggest lead of the game, 19-9 at 9:15, but the Blue & Gold used an 11-3 of its own to make it a two-point ballgame, 20-22 on a three-pointer by junior Nikau McCullough (Hamilton, New Zealand). The Dust Devils answered with a trey of their own and Peterson closed the half with a pair of free throws for the 25-22 score, advantage International.

Houston opened the scoring on a driving layup off a feed from Peterson and Jordan hit a jumper after a rebound on the other end of the floor by Radojicic to give the Rattlers their first lead of the half. The teams traded baskets and at 15:35, Radojicic made a layup that sparked a 7-0 StMU run that lifted the Rattlers to a 36-32 lead (12:15). International immediately answered with a 6-0 run of its own to regain a two-point advantage, 38-36 (10:18). The teams again went back-and-forth until the game was tied for the third time at 43-43 after Peterson made a pair of free throws at 7:45. The Dust Devils followed with a 6-0 run, which the Rattlers immediately answered with a 5-0 run, bringing the score to 49-48 TAMI with 3:45 remaining. International stretched the lead to four with a three-pointer by Finn, but an 8-0 Rattlers run over the next 2:39 put the Rattlers ahead by four points, 56-52 and secured the team's conference home opening victory.

St. Mary's returns to the court on Saturday at 3 p.m. to host rival St. Edward's in the annual Battle of the Saints. The Hilltoppers are 7-1 on the year and also 1-0 in Heartland Conference play.
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