Men's Basketball Overcomes Slow Start to win in Laredo

LAREDO, Texas — The St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team overcame a slow start on Thursday night to defeat Texas A&M International 64-50 to win their 12th straight game in Lone Star Conference play.
 
The Rattlers (15-4, 12-1) trailed by 15 with 8:11 to play in the first half, 26-11, but outscored the Dustdevils (10-13, 5-9) 16-2 the remainder of the half to pull within two at the break, 28-26. Leading by one, 31-30, at the first timeout of the second half, freshman Lawyer Jones (Waco, Texas) entered the game and scored the next seven points to spark the team.
 
Jones ended the night with nine points in 13 minutes, making 3-of-4 from the field and both of his free throws, as the players off the bench scored 35 of the team's 64 points. 
 
Senior forward Franklin Agu (London, England) tallied his second double-double of the year with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while junior Wayne Wiggins (Mansfield, Texas) chipped in 11 points, and he nailed all six of his free throw attempts. Agu brought down six boards off the offensive glass, helping the Rattlers to 12 second-chance points, and he tied his career-high with seven free throws.
 
Junior guard Damani Claxton (Bronx, N.Y.) led the team with 18 points and had two of the team's five steals on the night and senior forward Lachlan Bofinger (Sydney, Australia) grabbed a game-high 12 boards. The pair also each had three assists to tie for team-high honors.
 
The Rattlers held the Dustdevils to only three offensive rebounds and won the rebounding battle, 39-20.
 
The win is the ninth straight for the Rattlers and the 12th consecutive in Lone Star play. It is the longest winning streak since the 2003-04 team won nine straight and the single-season streak against conference opponents since joining Division II in 1999-00. 
 
Texas A&M International was led by Esteban Roacho with 18 points, who hit four of his five three-pointers in the first half. Anthony Ignowski chipped in 11 points and Duncan Alevok came off the bench to garner a team-high five rebounds.
 
St. Mary's heads to Kingsville for a rematch with the Javelinas on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Rattlers won an 83-81 overtime thriller in the first meeting to begin the current nine-game winning streak. Texas A&M-Kingsville dropped a 69-66 decision to St. Edward's on Thursday evening.