ODESSA, Texas – A furious comeback in the second half fell short for the St. Mary's Men's Basketball team as they lost 76-68 at Texas-Permian on Saturday evening.
The Rattlers (2-3) trailed by as many as 24 points, 43-19 with 18:25 remaining, but cut it to a one-point game, 50-49 with 9:00 left. StMU could never grab the lead, however and the Falcons (6-3) held on for the eight-point victory.
Junior transfer
Ryan Leonard (Kerry, Ireland) led the team with a career-high 21 points, almost doubling his previous career-high of 11 from the Rattlers' last game against Huston-Tillotson. Leonard also paced the Gold & Blue with three steals and had one of the team's four blocked shots. Senior
Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) was the other Rattler in double digits, scoring 12 and he had a team-best four assists.
Senior
Mamady Djikine (Paris, France) tied his season-high with eight rebounds to lead all players, while both sophomore
Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) and junior
Emmanuel Ewuzie (San Antonio) added six boards each. The Rattlers out-rebounded the Falcons 35-31 on the night and scored 50 of their 68 points in the paint.
UTPB scored the majority of its points from beyond the arc as they drained 13 three-pointers. Jordan Horn led the team with 18 points off the strength of four triples, while three others hit double digits. Lemmie Howard had a team-best seven rebounds and DaJuan Jones led the game with nine assists.
The Falcons jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Leonard sank a triple with 15:27 on the clock. UTPB continued to dominate in the first half, hitting seven three-pointers to take a 38-17 into the break for halftime.
St. Mary's came out of the locker room with a bit more fire, scoring 22 of the first 27 points of the quarter -- including an 18-0 run -- to cut the deficit to six, 43-37. The teams traded buckets and after a UTPB three-pointer, the Rattlers used another run, this time eight points, to cut the game to one, 50-49. The Falcons answered with an eight-point run of their own for the 58-49 tally. Back-to-back three-pointers by the Falcons stretched their lead back to 13, 66-53 with 4:11 left. Leonard drained his third triple and the teams traded baskets to the 70-60 score when StMU called for a timeout at 2:40. UTPB scored on a layup and the Rattlers answered with a pair of their own for the 72-64 score and the Falcons called a timeout with 1:05 on the clock. Each team scored four more points down the stretch for the 76-68 final.
The Rattlers turn their attention to San Angelo and the Angelo State Rams on Monday. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m., or approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game. ASU lost to St. Edward's 75-59 on Saturday evening.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Junior Ryan Leonard has posted back-to-back games with career-highs in scoring and almost doubled his previous output with 21 points against the Falcons. Leonard scored 11 against Huston-Tillotson in the team's last contest.
- St. Mary's has out-rebounded each of the last two opponents after losing the rebounding battle in each of the first three games of the season. The Rattlers now have a +0.2 rebounding margin for the season.
- Caleb Jordan has scored in double figures in each of the last four games and also has multiple rebounds in each of those four.
- Emmanuel Ewuzie has brought down five or more rebounds in each of the last four games. The junior is also 7-for-9 from the field in the last two contests.
- St. Mary's shot only two free throws in the game – and made them both – as Tyler Caron sank both attempts with 42 seconds remaining.
