MBB Holds On During Crazy Finish For Win Over #20 West Texas

SAN ANTONIO – It took an extra five minutes and kept everyone in Bill Greehey on the edges of their seats, but the St. Mary's Men's Basketball team pulled off the upset of #20 West Texas A&M on Tuesday afternoon, 100-98.
 
The Rattlers (9-7, 6-1 Lone Star Conference) led by as many as 18 with 14:40 left in the second half, but a 15-point scoring run by the Buffaloes (18-5, 6-4 LSC) erased the advantage. A dogged determination by the Rattlers lifted them to their sixth-straight victory as senior guard Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) grabbed an offensive rebound and made the putback layup with two seconds remaining. A long three-point shot attempt by WT was off the mark at the buzzer.
 
StMU shot 59.6 percent from the floor and 66.7 (16-for-24) from both the three-point and free throw line. They also held WT to 34.9 percent from the field and just 21.2 (7-for-33) from beyond the arc. The Buffs steady shooting came at the charity stripe, as they were 31-for-39 and 79.5 percent.
 
Senior Josh Brewer (Indianapolis, Ind.) led the team in scoring with 22 points, sinking 4-of-6 from downtown. Jordan added 20 points – including six in the overtime period – with six rebounds and four assists. Junior Ryan Leonard (Kerry, Ireland) chipped in 15 points, six assists, five steals, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Sophomore Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) scored 14 and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds and senior Kobe Magee (San Antonio) added 11 points and a game-high eight assists.
 
The win for the Rattlers is the first non-preseason poll ranked victory since the 2016-17 team won at Midwestern State.
 
The 16 triples by the Rattlers ties the school single game record for threes in a game. The 2019 squad drained 16 against Bethany, while in the second game of the year against Regis at Lubbock Christian the team also made 16.
 
West Texas A&M had four score in double figures with Larry Wise (22), Zach Toussaint (20), Julius Brown (19) and Kavon Booker (15) all scoring over 10. Booker added a double-double with a game-high 14 rebounds.
 
After playing three games in four days, St. Mary's doesn't get much rest as they travel to Texas A&M International on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tip and then at Texas A&M Kingsville on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES

• Josh Brewer scored a career-high 22 points, while Caleb Jordan topped the 20-point plateau for the first time this year and the 14th time in his career.
• St. Mary's held the lead for 39:51, while West Texas led for just 2:21 on the day.
• Caleb Jordan led all players in overtime with six points as he was 2-for-2 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
• The 59.6 shooting percentage for StMU is the highest of the season, while the 66.7 three-point percentage is the fourth-best in single game history (minimum 10 makes).
• Tuesday marks just the third win over WT in series history (3-17), though it's just the fourth meeting between the clubs since 1999. 
• The six-game winning streak for the Rattlers is the longest since the 2014-15 team won seven straight.