San Antonio  - The Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas used a similar formula in winning their four straight game to open the season. A big second half. The Javelinas outscored St. Mary's by 13 points in the second half in a 78-65 victory at Bill Greehey Arena.

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It marked the third time this season and the second time against St. Mary's that the Javelinas had won after either trailing or being tied at the half.

The win improved the Javelinas to 4-0 for the second consecutive season and completed a 2-0 season series sweep over the Rattlers. St. Mary's fell to 3-3 on the year and suffered its first home loss in four games.

Remi Yusuf scored 20 or more points for the fourth consecutive game, leading the Javelinas with 21. It marked the 15th time in his last 29 games he has scored at least 20 points.

Rickey Huckaby had 18 points, Stephen Story added 16 and Wendell Mulkey had 10. Texas A&M-Kingsville has outscored its opponents by 34 points in the second half in the three games that were in doubt at halftime.

The Javelina shot a season-high 70 percent in the second half, making 17 of 24 shots, including 3-of-5 3-point field goals and all 9 free throw attempts. Defensively the Javelinas held the Rattlers to 42 percent from the floor and forced 20 turnovers.

 "Our defense was, wow! We really frustrated them," said Javelina head coach Pete Peterson. "It was a great team defensive effort especially in the second half. We played with a tremendous amount of passion. We kept grinding away, got some steals, forced turnovers, hit some big shots and slowly pulled away."

The two teams were tied at 32 at halftime, but the Javelinas pulled out to a 45-38 with just under 15 minutes left in the second half and expanded the lead to 13, 59-46 with just over seven minutes left to play.

The Rattlers, who led by as many as six in the first half, never held a second half lead and never cut the lead under double-digits in the final 12 minutes of the game.

Story, the Javelinas starting center and San Antonio native, blistered the Rattlers in the second half, scoring 13 of his 16 points and hitting 6-of-7 shots from the floor.

After making just 10-of-27 free throws in Saturday's 67-63 win at Incarnate Word, the Javelinas made 15 of 18 shots Monday night.

"We spent all day yesterday shooting free throws and it paid off," said Peterson.

The Javelinas host LSC North Division foe Northeastern State Thursday at 8:00 p.m.