Defense Leads to Offense In Second Half as MBB Wins Fifth Straight

SAN ANTONIO – A reinvigorated defense in the second half helped lift the St. Mary's Men's Basketball team to its fifth-consecutive victory as they won 79-68 over Cameron on Monday afternoon.
 
The Rattlers (8-7, 5-1 Lone Star Conference) trailed by 10, 37-27 at the conclusion of the first half, but their stifling defense in the second half turned into 52 second half points and the 11-point win. They forced 10 second half miscues by the Aggies (2-11, 0-6 Lone Star) and scored 14 points off those turnovers.
 
Trailing by 11 with 18:40 left in the game, junior guard Ryan Leonard (Kerry, Ireland) took over the Rattlers, scoring 10 straight with one CU free throw sandwiched in between to close StMU within two, 42-40 with 15:32 remaining. Leonard ended the game with a team-best 19 points. Sophomore forward Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) hit a triple with 10:48 on the clock to tie the game at 52-52 and the team never trailed again. Caron ended the day with 14 points, while junior Josh Brewer (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench to score 12 and senior guard Kobe Magee (San Antonio) added 11 points and a game-high six assists.
 
The Cameron combination of Colt Savage (23) and Connor Slater (21) scored 44 of the team's 68 points in their sixth-straight league loss.
 
St. Mary's continues its crazy schedule, playing its third game in four days when they host #12 West Texas A&M on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The team then has Wednesday off before playing at Texas A&M International on Thursday at 5:30 and Texas A&M Kingsville on Saturday at 4.
 
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES

• St. Mary's missed only one free throw on the day, going 15-for-16 at the charity stripe for a .938 percentage. That ties for the fourth-best single game performance in school history as the 2003 team was also 15-for-16 at Drury.
•  All five starters for the Rattlers scored at least nine points as they scored 62 of the squad's 79 points.
• The Rattlers shot 68 percent from the field in the second half, making 17-of-25 shots and they were 7-of-10 from beyond the arc to erase the 12-point deficit.
• The five consecutive wins against Lone Star Conference competition is the most by a St. Mary's team since the 2014-15 team won the last five of the regular season to earn the right to host the Heartland Conference Tournament, which the Rattlers also won.
• Sophomore Tyler Caron scored his 300th career point in the game and now has 301.
• Senior Caleb Jordan is now tied for fifth in school history with 122 career three-pointers. He ties former All-American Chris LeGrand (1992-95).