Men's Basketball Posts Wire-to-Wire Win Over Falcons

SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team led wire-to-wire on Saturday, though it wasn't always comfortable in a 77-72 final against UT Permian Basin.
 
The Rattlers (14-4, 11-1), winners of their last seven, saw a 17-point lead trimmed to four with 47 seconds remaining, but senior forward Lachlan Bofinger (Sydney, Australia) and junior guard Wayne Wiggins (Mansfield, Texas) each made two free throws in the final 26 ticks to secure the victory.
 
StMU shot 72.4 percent from the free throw line for the game, only the second time this year the team has shot above 70 percent for a game, and connected on 58.1 percent from the field, and 42.9 percent from the three-point line, while playing stifling defense throughout the first half. UTPB (13-6, 9-4) shot only 34.6 percent from the floor in the first half and 25.0 percent from the arc for the game (3-12).
 
Junior forward Eddie McPhee (Denver) had arguably his biggest game of the season, scoring a career-best 16 points, while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. He was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor, connected on both three-point attempts and all four free throws.
 
Junior guard Damani Claxton (Bronx, N.Y.) led the team with 17 points, while Bofinger chipped in 12, and the pair each had three assists. Senior Sebastian Mendoza (Riverside, Calif.) recorded three massive blocked shots as the Rattlers swatted a season-best seven. 
 
The Rattlers bench also came up big in the game, scoring 29 of the team's 77 points. Both Wiggins and junior Josh Reid (Havelock, N.C.) scored eight points, while Eman Lawal (Mississauga, Ontario) scored seven and senior Franklin Agu (London, England) chipped in six. Both Reid and Lawal were a perfect 3-for-3 shooting for the game, while Wiggins was 5-for-8 at the charity stripe.
 
UTPB was led in scoring by DJ Armstrong with 23 points, while Freddie Word led the game with eight rebounds. Maison Adeleye dished out a game-high six assists and Bryceson Burns came off the bench to add three steals.
 
The game between the two division leaders in the Lone Star started a bit rough, with six turnovers and six missed shots before McPhee got the scoring started with 17:09 to play by sinking a pair of free throws. The Rattlers built a 17-point lead with 5:13 to go before halftime, 30-13, on a dunk by McPhee after he stole the ball on the defensive end of the court.
 
The Rattlers head back out on the road as they return to East Division play, facing Texas A&M International on Thursday evening and Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday afternoon. The Dustdevils edged out Western New Mexico, 65-62, while the Javelinas defeated Sul Ross State, 73-58, on Saturday.