SAN ANTONIO – A 21-point run in the second half by Texas A&M International did in the St. Mary's Men's Basketball team on Saturday evening as the Rattlers as they fell 78-67.
Fouls by the Rattlers (2-5) proved extremely costly as three players fouled out and gave the Dust Devils (7-2) 20 points at the free throw line.
Sophomore
Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) led the Rattlers with 14 points, becoming the sixth-straight different Rattler to lead the team in scoring. He was the only one to score in double digits, though junior
Emmanuel Ewuzie (San Antonio),
Ryan Leonard (Kerry, Ireland) and senior
Kobe Magee (San Antonio) all scored eight each. Caron also led the team with eight rebounds, while Leonard tallied five assists and Caron had two steals and the team's only blocked shot.
Jermaine Drewey scored a game-high 22 points for the Dust Devils, while Greg Bowie II was right behind him with 21 points and La-Quiem Walker chipped in 17. Tiras Morton led the game with 11 rebounds as TAMIU out-rebounded StMU 42-to-25.
St. Mary's hosts Texas A&M Kingsville on Monday at approximately 4 p.m. The Javelinas won 88-82 at St. Edward's on Saturday afternoon.
The Rattlers came out on fire early in the first half, grabbing the early 13-3 lead as five different players scored. The Dust Devils answered with a 14-point run to take the 17-13 advantage. Magee stopped the streak with a driving layup and Jordan was wide open for a layup on a great feed from Leonard to knot the score for the third time at 17-17. TAMIU scored seven of the next nine for the 25-19 lead, however the Rattlers ended the half on an 11-4 run for the 30-29 margin.
The teams traded baskets to start the second half until a three-pointer by Drewey from TAMIU cut it to one, 37-36. The Gold & Blue immediately rattled off a six-point run to extend the lead back to seven, 43-36. Four straight points for the Devils made it a one-possession contest and once again the Rattlers had a quick answer, with Washington scoring five straight and Brewer adding a floater from the middle of the paint to make the score 50-41. After the teams traded buckets, TAMIU scored 21 straight to take the 66-54 lead. A Caron free throw finally snapped the streak, but the Devils scored the next five to stretch their edge to 71-55. The Rattlers sank four straight three-pointers, but it was too little, too late as they fell 78-67.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Tyler Caron hit his first three-pointer of the year and got hot from the arc, ending 3-for-5. He started the season missing his first 12 attempts after suffering the broken hand during the preseason.
- Through seven games, the Rattlers have had six different leading scorers. Caron led the team to become the sixth-straight. Only Kobe Magee has led twice, doing so in the first two games of the season.
- After hitting just four three-pointers in each of the last two games, the Rattlers doubled the total sinking eight on Saturday – and five different players hit at least one.
- St. Mary's did a good job of sharing the ball, recording 18 assists on 26 baskets. Five of the six players with an assist had more than one in the contest.
- The Rattlers were limited to a season-low six offensive rebounds by the Dust Devils.
