Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

St. Mary's University Athletics

Official Athletics Site of St. Mary's University

Scoreboard

Peterson_Dimitri_20181219MB_vs_TAMUK_16
Antonio Morano Photography
52
Tex. A&M-Kingsville TAMK 4-6
65
Winner St. Mary's (TX) STMU 8-6
Tex. A&M-Kingsville TAMK
4-6
52
Final
65
St. Mary's (TX) STMU
8-6
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Tex. A&M-Kingsville TAMK 22 30 52
St. Mary's (TX) STMU 27 38 65

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

Men's Hoops wins free throw battle

By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletic Communications

SAN ANTONIO – It was a tale of free throws inside Bill Greehey Arena on Wednesday evening. The St. Mary's men's basketball team made the vast majority of its attempts and Texas A&M Kingsville did not, leading the Rattlers to a 65-52 victory.

St. Mary's went 26-for-30 at the stripe to improve to 8-5 on the year, while Kingsville made just 10-of-24 at the charity stripe to fall to 4-6 on the season. This is the Rattlers' second win of the year over the Javelinas as the team's also met on November 14, a 60-55 victory for the Blue & Gold in Kingsville.

Freshman Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) and senior Petar Radojicic (Ljubovija, Serbia) both had perfect nights at the stripe, with Jordan making all 10 of his attempts and Radojicic sinking all eight of his tries. Both juniors Markques Houston (Houston, Texas) and Nikau McCullough (Hamilton, New Zealand) also made both of their free throw attempts in the contest.

Jordan led the team in scoring with 13 points, all coming in the second half, while Radojicic had 12 and Houston added 10. Senior forward Dimitri Peterson (San Antonio) grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds – the fifth time this season he's tallied double figures in rebounds – and he narrowly missed his third double-double of the year with nine points. Freshman Timmy Benavides (San Antonio) led all players with a career-high four assists and junior Matej Gapert (Zagreb, Croatia) notched the team's only blocked shot in the game.

The Javelinas were led by John Mouton with 16 points and six rebounds, with five coming on the offensive end of the floor. Both Alex Mills and Darius Mickens had two assists and Mickens also had two blocks.

St. Mary's shot 37 percent for the game (17-for-46) and 35.7 percent from the three-point line (5-for-14) and the defense held Kingsville to 32.8 for the contest (19-for-58) as well as just 16 percent from beyond the arc (4-for-25).

Houston and senior Skyler Brooks (Seguin, Texas) hit back-to-back shots to open the scoring for the Blue & Gold and the 4-0 lead, but the Javelinas answered with a 4-0 run of their own for the first tie of the game. Houston hit a three-pointer at the 15:18 mark and junior Lamont Traylor (Las Vegas, Nevada) sank one free throw for another four-point lead. A five-point run for Kingsville gave the Javelinas their first lead of the game, 9-8 with 13:24 to play in the first half, but Gaspert made a jumper just outside the paint to give the lead right back to the Rattlers. Peterson scored on an old-fashioned three-point play off a steal and after a TAMUK bucket, freshman Dylan Isenhower (Abilene, Texas) and Brooks sank back-to-back triples for a seven-point lead, 19-12. The Javelinas answered with an eight point run to regain the lead, 20-19 at 6:22, but Houston made a pair of free throws at 4:17 to give the lead right back to StMU. McCullough followed with his free throws and after another bucket by TAMUK, Radojicic scored the final four points of the half for the 27-22 score.

The teams traded baskets to start the second half, then the Rattlers went on a mini 6-0 run to stretch their lead to 11, 35-24 at 17:35. After a pair of Javelina free throws, junior Curtlon Wesley (Houston) brought the fans to their feet with a huge dunk on an offensive rebound putback. TAMUK scored the next four, but Houston answered with a three-pointer to keep the lead at double digits, 40-30. Mouton answered with a three for the Javelinas and then the teams traded baskets. After a mini four-point run by TAMUK, Jordan scored five straight to lift the lead back to 10, 49-39 at 8:05. The teams continued to go back-and-forth until StMU used a mini 5-0 run from 5:06 to 4:29 to give them their largest lead of the game at 13 points, 60-47. During the stretch Jordan and Radojicic each made two free throws and Peterson made one. In fact, neither team made a field goal over the final 5:45 of the contest – everything scored was from the free throw line.

St. Mary's returns to action on December 30 against Northeastern State at 3 p.m. at home. Tickets are still available for the game. The Rattlers would like to wish all of you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season.
 
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors