Six Score in Double Figures as MBB Wins Battle of the Saints

EDIT: This story has been updated to reflect a scoring change that occurred on Friday, Feb. 27.

SAN ANTONIO — The guards of the St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team turned up their speed in the second half, driving to the basket again and again to keep the pressure on rival St. Edward's in the final home game of the regular season, as the Rattlers won 92-83.
 
Senior Eddie McPhee (Denver, Colo.) put on a shooting clinic in the first half, draining a career-best four three-pointers, leading all scorers with 16 points. He ended with a career-high 20 points. Senior Wayne Wiggins (Mansfield, Texas) took over in the second half, scoring 15 of his career-high 19 points after the break.
 
In addition to McPhee and Wiggins, four other Rattlers (19-8, 12-7) scored in double digits as StMU posted a season-high 92 points. Senior Sebastian Mendoza (Riverside, Calif.) scored 14, Senior Olaverr Camacho (Barberena, Santa Rosa, Guatemala) tallied 13, junior Justin Britt (Goose Creek, S.C.) added 12, and senior Damani Claxton (Bronx, N.Y.) scored the 1,000th point of his career with 10 on the night.
 
The six players in double digits are the most this season, topping the five from Feb. 12 in the win over UT Permian Basin.
 
Britt, Wiggins, and sophomore Lawyer Jones (Waco, Texas) each had six rebounds as all 10 players grabbed at least one board in out-rebounding the Hilltoppers (24-7, 13-7) 38-to-28. Claxton tied for game-high honors with six assists, and Mendoza tallied two of the team's six steals.
 
St. Edward's was led in scoring by Ryder Bradley with 25, and Jamison Kay added 20. Blake Nielsen scored 19 and led the team in both rebounds and assists with six each.
 
For the fourth time this year, the Rattlers scored 50 of their points in the paint, and the team continued to shoot well at the free throw line, making 75% (15-for-20).
 
Both teams made at least half of their shots as St. Edward's shot exactly 50 percent for the night (30-60) and St. Mary's made 52.3 percent of its shots from the field (34-65).
 
St. Mary's wraps up the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Cameron. The Aggies defeated UT Dallas, 88-79, on Thursday, snapping a 12-game losing skid. The Rattlers are currently in sixth place in the LSC standings with one game remaining. A win would tie the Hilltoppers and Rattlers for fifth place in the standings, and the tiebreaker is head-to-head against teams in descending order in the standings. A DBU win would give StMU the five-seed, while a DBU loss paired with wins by Lubbock Christian and Eastern New Mexico would create a three-way logjam at the top of the standings.