SAN ANTONIO — The No. 20 St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team drained a season-high 12 three-pointers, including one by
Justin Britt with 0.6 seconds remaining, to give the Rattlers (10-2, 4-1 LSC) an 88-85 victory over Midwestern State on Friday night.
It was Britt's (Goose Creek, S.C.) only field goal of the night, but it was arguably the biggest shot of the game as the Mustangs (4-7, 2-2 LSC) had tied the game for the fourth time with 22 seconds left on a triple by Jonathan Jackson, who led MSU on the night with 14 points.
Senior
Wayne Wiggins (Mansfield, Texas) led the game with a career-high tying 17 points. The guard also had four assists and four steals in the team's 10th win of the year. Fellow senior
Freddie Cooper (Chesterfield, Mo.) was extremely efficient, scoring a career-best 15 points in 15 minutes, hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and 6-for-7 from the field.
Senior
Olaverr Camacho (Barberena, Santa Rosa, Guatemala) and senior
Damani Claxton (Bronx, N.Y.) also scored in double digits with 14 and 12, respectively, and Camacho grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, narrowly missing his first double-double of the year. Claxton dished out a career-high seven assists, while fellow senior
Eddie McPhee (Denver, Colo.) chipped in five assists, three steals, six rebounds and nine points.
The teams went back-and-forth through the first nine minutes with three lead changes and three ties before the Rattlers used an 8-0 run to build a seven-point advantage, 25-18, with 10:13 left on the strength of a Cooper three-pointer. A dunk by junior
JJ Walton (Tampa, Fla.) with 7:43 remaining lifted the team's lead to nine, 32-23, the largest of the first half. MSU cut the lead to one, 32-31 (6:00), using an eight-point run of its own, but StMU outscored them 13-to-8 down the stretch for the 45-39 halftime score.
The Rattlers built a 13-point lead on a Wiggins triple with 15:21 to play in the second half, but the Mustangs slowly chipped away, knotting the game with 22 seconds remaining. Wiggins did the majority of his damage in the second stanza, scoring 11 of his 17 points. StMU recorded 16 rebounds in the second half, with 11 coming on the offensive glass. They ended with 35 total rebounds and 21 offensive, winning the battle of the boards, 35-to-31.
The Mustangs had six players hit double digits in the scoring column, led by Jackson's 14.
The Rattlers host No. 8 Lubbock Christian on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Chaps defeated No. 13 St. Edward's 88-71 in Austin on Friday night.
