DALLAS — The St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team reached the NCAA South Central Region Semifinal for the second straight year, and for the second time, it's where the dancing ended for the Rattlers as they lost 78-60 to Black Hills State on Sunday at the Burg Center on the DBU campus.
After shooting only 25 percent in the first half, the Rattlers (22-10) came out in the second stanza and shot 51.7 percent; however, the Yellow Jackets (29-4) shot 62.1 percent after the break to advance to the regional finals.
Senior
Sebastian Mendoza (Riverside, Calif.) led the team with 16 points, while he and junior
Justin Britt (Goose Creek, S.C.) each had four steals and Britt added 14 points. Senior
Eddie McPhee (Denver, Colo.) led the game with six rebounds, and senior
Wayne Wiggins (Mansfield, Texas) had two of the team's five assists.
Britt opened the scoring with a three-pointer from the corner on the first possession of the game, and the Rattlers held the lead until the 11:44 mark when Blake Volmer hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 10-10. It was again tied at 12-12 when the Yellow Jackets went on a 6-0 run, and stretched the lead to 11 at the half, 31-20.
BHSU came out of the locker room for the second half and kept the pressure up, hitting three consecutive three-pointers, with two by Cam Lowe, and they led by double digits throughout the second half. Twice the Rattlers trimmed a 21-point deficit to 14, but they were unable to get any closer.
Lowe was one of five BHSU players to score in double figures with 14, while Jaeton Hackley led with 16 points and eight assists. He also tied for game-high honors with four steals.
The Rattlers say goodbye to five amazing seniors in
Olaverr Camacho (Barberena, Santa Rosa, Guatemala),
Damani Claxton (Bronx, N.Y.), McPhee, Mendoza, and Wiggins. The four that were part of the team for two seasons (all but Camacho) combined for a 42-21 record and became the first teams to reach the NCAA Regional Semifinals in back-to-back years.
News & Notes
- With the 12 steals on Sunday, the Rattlers cemented themselves as the best team in school history, breaking the previous record of 262 steals by the 1993-94 team with 278 thefts.
- The Rattlers finished the season with 2,349 points, the 8th most in school history, and the most in the NCAA Division II era of the program (2000-present).
- The 13.34 offensive rebounds per game ranks 10th best in the 92 seasons of basketball at St. Mary's.
- The team made 178 three-pointers, which will go down as the seventh-most at StMU.
- The .757 free throw percentage is tied for the third-best in school history, and misses the Division II era record by .001 (.758, 2001-02).
- The 493 free throws made ties for the eighth-most.
- The Rattlers narrowly missed the all-time blocked shots record of 125 by the 2008-09 team, swatting 122 shots.
- Claxton's 441 points ranks 30th on the school's single season scoring chart and is the ninth most in the DII era. He also ends tied for sixth overall and third in the DII era with his .881 free throw percentage (104-118).
- Camacho tied for 18th with 244 rebounds, which is the fifth most since joining DII. Camacho also ends 13th overall and eighth in DII era with a .592 field goal percentage (126-213). His 28 blocked shots ties for 15th on the charts
- Wiggins led the team with 49 steals, tying Claxton's mark from a year ago for 10th all-time.
- Mendoza shot .464 (39-84) from three-point range, tying for the fourth-best shooting season, and breaking the Division II era record of Tyler Caron from 2023-24 (.441).
