DALLAS — Survive and advance. Head coaches all over the country say that's what it takes this time of the year, and that's exactly what the St. Mary's University Men's Basketball team did on Saturday in the NCAA First Round against Eastern New Mexico, winning 73-70 in overtime.
Senior
Wayne Wiggins (Mansfield, Texas) drove the lane and missed a layup but grabbed his own rebound and kicked it out to
Damani Claxton (Bronx, N.Y.), who nailed a three-pointer with 3.3 seconds remaining. The Greyhounds' Mo Austin took a shot at the buzzer from just inside the half-court line, and it went in, but after official review, it was waved off and the Rattlers advance to the NCAA Regional Semifinals for the second straight year.
The Rattlers (22-9) are one of three seven-seeds to pull off the upset in the first round on Saturday, joining Virginia Union, who defeated West Liberty 52-46, and Alabama-Huntsville, who knocked off Palm Beach Atlantic 92-73. The first game in the South Central Regional was also an upset as sixth-seeded Black Hills State defeated third-seeded Lubbock Christian, 67-64, and will face St. Mary's in the Second Round.
StMU once again used a balanced scoring attack, with five players scoring in double figures, led by Claxton with 15. Senior
Olaverr Camacho (Barberena, Santa Rosa, Guatemala) narrowly missed his eighth double-double of the year, scoring 14 with a game-high nine rebounds. Camacho got things rolling early, scoring the first four points of the game for the Gold and Blue. Senior
Eddie McPhee (Denver, Colo.) did a little of everything for the Rattlers as he scored 11, grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists and had a steal. Both seniors
Sebastian Mendoza (Riverside, Calif.) and Wiggins added 10 points each.
The Rattlers have now won three-straight against the Greyhounds (26-6) to improve to 5-4 in the all-time series. It is also the second-straight season that the Rattlers have won as the lower seed in the first round, as they knocked off third-seeded Lubbock Christian, 67-61, on the same floor, the Burg Center on the campus of DBU, in the First Round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
In the first half, the teams went back and forth for the first several minutes, with neither able to grab the momentum. Camacho scored a fast-break reverse layup off a steal by McPhee to pull within one, 17-16, with 6:13 remaining. After an ENMU layup, McPhee drained a three-pointer with 4:20 on the clock for the 19-19 tie. The teams traded buckets to 21-21 when St. Mary's went on a 6-2 run for a 27-23 lead, and entered the locker room up four at the break, 29-25.
St. Mary's held the lead for the majority of the second half, with the 'Hounds taking their first lead of the period at 5:36 on a layup off a steal by Austin for the 54-53 lead, and they stretched the advantage to five when he banked in a three-pointer as the shot clock expired at 4:08. The Rattlers tied the game at 61-61 on a McPhee three, and sophomore
Lawyer Jones had a great look at the basket after stealing the ball at midcourt, but the shot rimmed out, sending the game to overtime for the first time all season for either squad.
The Rattlers were 5-for-7 from the field in overtime and made both three-pointers, as Wiggins scored seven of his 10 points in the final five-minute period.
St. Mary's held one of the league's top players, Jose Murillo, to nine points and only five rebounds, though he did block three shots. Austin led the Greyhounds with 19 points and six assists, while Cooper Jackson added 14 points and Treyvon Byrd chipped in 11 and a team-best six rebounds.
St. Mary's will square off with Black Hills State in the NCAA Regional Semifinals on Sunday, March 15, at 5 p.m. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools for men's basketball, though the Rattlers' women's basketball team won 61-58 in Spearfish in the second game of the season.
