Men's Basketball Comes Within Seconds of Upsetting Sixth-Ranked DBU

SAN ANTONIO — Despite junior Franklin Agu exploding for a career-best 21 points and posting his second-straight double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds, the St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team couldn't overcome a slow start. The Rattlers clawed their way back but ended up dropping its third-straight one-possession game, 91-90 to sixth-ranked DBU on Thursday night.
 
The Rattlers (5-8, 1-6 Lone Star Conference) trailed by 13, 19-to-6 with 14:21 to play in the first half but fought back to knot the score at 84-84 with 2:13 left in the game on a Tyler Caron (Longview, Texas) putback. StMU never gained the lead, however, as the Patriots moved to 12-1 on the year and 6-1 in Lone Star play.
 
Agu, a junior from London, England, more than doubled his career high in scoring in the first start of his career. Last Saturday at Texas A&M International, he scored in double figures for the first time in the Gold and Blue with 10 points and blew that out of the water with a game-high tying 21. He was 9-of-11 from the floor and led all players with 10 boards.
 
Senior Davion Coleman (Houston) came off the bench to score 19 points in an efficient manner as he was 9-for-12 from the floor, while Caron tied his season-high with 18 points. Senior Jalon Johnson (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) chipped in 10 points and tied for game-high honors with six assists.
 
DBU was led in scoring by Cameron Kahn with 21 points, while Cody Stevens came off the bench to score 16 and a trio of other Patriots scored in double digits. Ta'Jay Dunlap led the team with six rebounds and Ricky Lujan dished out a game-high seven assists.
 
The Rattlers continued to show they're one of the dominant rebounding teams in the conference, winning the battle of the boards 43-to-28.
 
St. Mary's remains at home, hosting UT Tyler on Saturday at approximately 3 p.m. The Patriots lost 67-to-60 at St. Edward's on Thursday night.
 
News & Notes

• The 52 points in the second half by the Rattlers is the second-highest total this year. On three other occasions the Rattlers have scored 53 in the second half. It is the sixth time in 13 games the team has scored 50 or more in the second half this year.
• With his season-high tying 18 points, Tyler Caron is now just four points shy of the 900-point milestone for his career. He also took over sole possession of fifth place on the school's career three-pointers made list with 137, passing Anthony Weeaks (2001-04) who sank 133.
• Senior Seny N'Diaye (Dakar, Senegal) blocked the 50th shot of his career with his first of three swats on the night. 
• St. Mary's has lost the last three games by a combined six points, two at Texas A&M Kingsville (78-80), three at Texas A&M International (70-73) and one against #6 DBU (90-91).