SAN ANTONIO – The St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team suffered its third straight loss on Saturday afternoon as they fell 70-60 in overtime to the Oklahoma Christian University Eagles inside Bill Greehey Arena. The back-and-forth contest features eight ties and eight lead changes.
The Rattlers (6-7, 2-5 Lone Star Conference) are now 1-1 on the season in overtime games as St. Mary's defeated No. 14 Colorado School of Mines in the season opener, 85-84.
Markques Houston scored a season-high 23 points as he connected on seven triples.
Kobe Magee added 14 points including four triples while
Caleb Jordan narrowly missed a double-double with 12 points and a career-high nine assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
St. Mary's got off to a slow start as they were stuck on three points for the first five minutes of the contest but Houston got the Rattlers over the hump as he converted his only two-point basket of the game to make it 10-5 at the 14:37 mark.
Three consecutive three's from Magee got the Rattlers right back into the game, cutting the Eagles deficit to two points with 10:35 left to play in the opening half. Houston knocked down a three with 3:59 to go in the half and that would spark a 10-3 run for St. Mary's, giving them a 32-26 advantage at the break.
St. Mary's managed to stay in front for the first 10 minutes of the second half but with 8:54 left to play in regulation, Oklahoma Christian evened the game at 47. Both teams went on a scoring drought that lasted nearly four minutes. Magee broke the drought giving the Rattlers a two-point edge but the Eagles would quickly answer and knot the game at 49.
With the game all tied at 55, both teams had chances over the last 1:22 but neither could convert, sending the game into overtime.
In overtime, it was all Oklahoma Christian as they outscored the Rattlers 15-5 in the extra period.
UP NEXT
St. Mary's hits the road for a pair of conference games traveling to Lawton, Okla., to face Cameron on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. before facing Midwestern State on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Wichita Falls, Texas.
The Rattlers return home to host Texas A&M International on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Texas A&M Kingsville on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m.
