Men's Basketball Bested by Buzzer Beater

TYLER, Texas – An improbable shot at the buzzer broke the hearts of the St. Mary's Men's Basketball on Saturday evening in Tyler, as Terrell Wilson went high off the glass on a drive through the lane for the bucket at the 52-50 UT Tyler win.
 
Senior Mamady Djikine (Paris, France) grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds for the Rattlers (6-7, 3-5 Lone Star), breaking his career-high of 13 done twice last season – including against the same Patriots team on Feb. 22. Fellow senior Emmanuel Ewuzie (San Antonio) also collected double digit rebounds with 10 and they each scored eight.
 
Junior Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) led the game with 15 points, while junior Jalon Johnson (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) chipped in 10 – with eight coming in the second half. He also had a game-high three assists, while Ewuzie tied for game-high honors with two blocked shots.
 
St. Mary's and UT Tyler (8-4, 4-4 LSC) played tight throughout with neither team leading by more than seven as the game had seven ties and seven lead changes. 
 
The lids that seemingly went onto the baskets at halftime of the women's game remained on for the first half of the men's game as the two teams shot just 26 percent from the field and sank one basket in the final 6:41 as Djikine made a putback at the buzzer. Caron led all players with seven points, while Djikine (10) and Ewuzie (7) combined for 17 of the team's 21 rebounds.
 
The teams blew the lids off in the early part of the second half, combining for 22 points in the first 4:30 after scoring only 15 in the final 10 minutes of the first half. At 15:55 Caron hit a floater for the 31-29 lead and the Rattlers led until 2:57 on a Jordan Hairston three-pointer to give the Patriots a 48-46 lead. UTT took a four-point lead off a pair of free throws, but the Rattlers responded with the next four for the eighth tie of the game with 9.4 seconds remaining. 
 
St. Mary's remains on the road, heading to UAFS on Thursday and Oklahoma Christian on Saturday afternoon. The Lions won in Laredo, 46-42 against Texas A&M International on Saturday.