LAREDO, Texas – Senior
Markques Houston scored five points and grabbed three rebounds in the overtime period to help lift the St. Mary's Men's Basketball team to a 77-70 win at Texas A&M International on Saturday evening.
Houston was one of four Rattlers (10-13, 6-11 Lone Star Conference) to score in double figures as the team snapped a six-game losing skid. Sophomore
Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) led all players with 18 points, while junior
Kobe Magee (San Antonio) scored 15 and both Houston and senior
Matej Gaspert (Zagreb, Croatia) chipped in 14.
The Rattlers held a four-point advantage, 30-26, at halftime, but the Dust Devils (3-20, 1-16 Lone Star) made that difference up in the second half to force the extra five minutes. There, the Gold & Blue outscored TAMIU 12-5 for their 10
th win of the year.
Both junior
Lamont Traylor (Las Vegas, Nev.) and sophomore
Dylan Isenhower (Abilene, Texas) led the team with seven rebounds, while Jordan had a game-high six assists.
St. Mary's held the slight edge in field goal percentage, out-shooting TAMIU 43.3 percent to 42.1. They also held the 64.5 percent (20-for-31) to 61.5 percent (16-for-26) advantage at the charity stripe.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded three-pointers to open the contest and then layups for the 5-5 tie. TAMIU scored on a traditional three-point play for the 8-5 lead with 16:27 on the clock and then the clubs went over two-and-a-half minutes without scoring. The Rattlers went on a 10-0 run to take a seven-point advantage, 15-8 with 10:57 remaining. The Dust Devils answered with a 5-0 run of their own to cut the lead to two, 15-13, but the Rattlers responded with back-to-back buckets to stretch the lead back to six, 19-13. After consecutive shots by TAMIU, the Rattlers outscored the Dust Devils 7-2 for the 26-19 tally. The teams traded baskets throughout the remainder of the half for the 30-26 score.
Traylor opened the second half with a layup and after a free throw by TAMIU, Traylor sank a pair of his own to make the score 34-27. The clubs exchanged layups and the Devils scored four of the next five to close within four, 37-33 with 16 minutes left. After a Houston layup, TAMIU hit a three to cut the lead in half, 39-36. Freshman
Jaron Presley (Katy, Texas) scored on a layup and the Dust Devils rattled off seven straight to gain a 43-41 lead. Jordan made a pair at the charity stripe for the fourth tie of the game and after two more ties, the home team scored four straight to bring the score to 51-47 with 10 minutes on the clock. The Dust Devils stretched the lead to seven, 60-53 with 6:44 left. The Rattlers pushed five straight to make it a two-point game on a triple by Magee. The teams continued to battle back-and-forth until Jordan tied things for the seventh time with 25 seconds remaining.
Houston drilled a trey 41 seconds into the overtime period, sank two free throws and Gaspert added a jumper for the seven-point lead, 72-65. The Dust Devils scored the next three points, however the Rattlers went 5-for-6 at the free throw line over the final 50 seconds to guarantee the win.
TEAM & INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES
- For the 16th time this season, Kobe Magee recorded at least four assists in a contest.
- Caleb Jordan has scored in double figures in 19 of 23 games this season and has done so in four of the last five.
- The 20 free throws made by the Rattlers ties for the most this season and both have come against Texas A&M-International. In the first meeting, the Rattlers were 20-of-23 from the line, while tonight they were 20-of-31.
- In four of the last five games, the team grabbed 10 of more offensive rebounds.
- For the first time this year, the Gold & Blue did not block a shot.
UP NEXT
The Rattlers return home to host Western New Mexico on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Texas-Permian Basin on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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