SAN ANTONIO — Good teams find a way to win when the game isn't going according to plan, and that's exactly what the No. 25 St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team did on Thursday night, fighting through double overtime to win 87-75 against UT Tyler.
The win is the 11th straight for the Rattlers and the 14th consecutive against Lone Star opponents as they improve to 17-4 overall and 14-1 in league play. The Patriots drop to 8-14 on the season and 5-11 in conference action.
St. Mary's attempted 52 free throws on the night, tying for the second-most in school history, making 32. Nineteen of the makes came during the two overtime periods, and the team was 15-for-17 in the second OT to secure the victory. Both junior
Damani Claxton (Bronx, N.Y.) and senior
Lachlan Bofinger (Sydney, Australia) made all four of their attempts, while junior
Eman Lawal (Mississauga, Ontario) sank all three of his tries and junior
Wayne Wiggins (Mansfield, Texas) was 4-for-6.
Claxton led the team with 23 points, while Bofinger added his 10th double-double of the year with 17 points and 17 rebounds. Both players tied for team-high honors with four assists each and Bofinger blocked three shots.
Lawal scored a career-best 14 points off the bench, and senior
Sebastian Mendoza (Riverside, Calif.) chipped in 10. Senior
Franklin Agu (London, England) grabbed double figures in rebounds for the second time in three games, collecting 10. Wiggins led the game with three steals, and he also added three assists and nine points.
It looked early like the Rattlers might dominate the contest as they scored the first 16 points of the night, but the Patriots used a 12-point run of their own late in the first half to close the gap and took a one-point lead into halftime 26-25. The game featured six ties and 12 lead changes.
It is the fourth time this year St. Mary's has gone overtime, and the team is 4-0 in those games. The Rattlers are 45-40 all-time in overtime contests, and they move to 6-2 in double overtime games.
The Rattlers shot only 37.5 percent for the game, and 24.1 percent from the three-point line. The defense held UTT to 37.5 percent shooting from the field and 30 percent from beyond the arc. StMU also out-rebounded the Patriots 54-to-43, the 54 rebounds are the most this season, and they tie for the fifth-highest rebound total in Bill Greehey Arena history, knotting the 54 the team grabbed against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Jan. 19, 2017.
St. Mary's hosts sixth-ranked DBU on Saturday at 3 p.m. in a key battle in the East Division. The Patriots defeated St. Edward's 85-74 in Austin on Thursday evening.
