Remi Yusuf led four Texas A&M-Kingsville players in double figures with 19 points. Kia Griffin added 17 points, six assists and six rebounds.   Rickey Huckaby had 13 and Bobby Pandy, in his first game of the year, came off the bench to score 12.

   Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor, Texas A&M-Kingsville 52.7% and Incarnate Word 55.1%. 

   But the Javelinas forced five more turnovers than they committed which led to a 22-13 advantage in points off of turnovers.

  “One of the things we wanted to do this year is pick up the tempo,” said Javelina head coach Pete Peterson. “We hadn’t been able to do it because we didn’t have the numbers. I thought we might be able to force some turnovers tonight. We got the intensity going on defense. The first time we played them we were too passive. We had to make something happen. If we make some steals, we can get some things going.”

   Peterson was able to use a full court press and a half court-trapping defense with the addition of seniors and former starters Pandy and Eddie Lopez. Pandy started 24 games last year and averaged 12 points and a team leading 6.3 rebounds per game. Lopez started 23 games in 2004-05 and averaged 11.3 points per game and was the team’s leading 3-point shooter.

   “With those guys back, it really give us some depth,” said Peterson. “Bobby really gave us a great lift off the bench tonight.”

 After building a 10-point halftime lead, the Javelinas tried to creep away from the Cardinals, building the lead to 15, 49-34 on a breakaway lay-up by Wendell Mulkey with 14:35 left in the game.

   The Cardinals cut the lead under 10 points for the first time in the half, 54-45, on a breakaway lay-up by Mikyl Bradshaw with just over 11 minutes left in the game.

   But freshman Dominick Jones responded with his first 3-point basket of the year to get the lead back into double-digits, 57-45.

   But IWU hit consecutive shots to get within seven, 57-50. The Cardinals hit 9 of their first 10 shots from the floor in the second half.

   But the seven-point difference was as close as the Cardinals would get.

   The score was 59-51 when Pandy hit a driving lay-up, the Cardinals missed a 3-point shot, Yusuf grabbed the rebound, drove the length of the floor and scored to give the Javelinas a 63-51 lead with seven minutes left.

 Texas A&M-Kingsville still held a 10 point lead when Reggie Love’s triple gave the Javelinas a 70-57 lead with 4:42 left.

   The Cardinals cut the lead to 10 on two occasions, but Griffin’s 3-point basket with 1:30 left in game made it 79-65 and sealed the victory for the Javelinas.

   Texas A&M-Kingsville started the game off hot, hitting their first three shots, including a pair of 3-point shots, and forcing a turnover in the first minute and a half as the Javelinas ran out to an 8-2 lead.

   The Cardinals scored the next five points to cut the lead to 8-7, but the Javelinas came right back and scored seven straight to get the lead back to eight, 15-7 with 13 ½ minutes left in the first half.

   The lead increased to nine, 19-10, before two free throws by IWU’s Jason Gant cut the advantage to 19-12 with 9:58 left in the half.

   But a running one-hander in the lane by Yusuf, a turnover by the Cardinals on their next possession and a lay-up by Stephen Story forced IWU coach Ken Burmeister to call a timeout with 8:33 left in the half and the Javelinas with their biggest lead at 23-12.

   Another Cardinal rally was cut short as Ralph Davis’ second consecutive lay-up and a fast break basket by Yusuf got the Javelina lead back to double digits, 29-17 with 5:54 remaining.

   But this time the timeout didn’t help as the Cardinals immediately turned the ball over against the Javelina press and Yusuf hit a 3-point basket to make it 32-17.

   The Javelinas made 12 of their first 22 shots, but cooled off as the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to get the lead under 10, 32-23.

   A breakaway jam by Kia Griffin got the lead back to 11, 34-23, but a 3-point basket by IWU’s Chris Smith cut the lead to eight. But Griffin responded again with a driving lay-up and after the Javelinas rebounded Griffin’s missed free throw, Pandy hit a driving lay-up for a four-point trip.

   Mikyl Bradshaw’s two free throws with four seconds left made the score 38-28 Javelinas at the intermission.

   Texas A&M-Kingsville hit 50 percent of its shots in the first half and forced 10 Cardinal turnovers while turning the ball over just three times. Yusuf led the Javelinas with 11 points while Griffin had seven points, five rebounds and four assists.

Smith 4-6 0-0 9, Connolly 4-7 2-2 11, Caldwell 6-10 3-6 17, Gant 5-8 3-4 13, Bradshaw 4-8 3-4 12, Tennison 3-4 0-0 6, Bell 1-5 0-0 3, Whitfield 0-1 2-2 2, Farahani 0-0 0-0 0, Ibrahim 0-0 0-0 0, Gostecnik 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 27-49 13-18 73

Griffin 6-11 3-5 17, Yusuf 6-9 6-7 19, Story 3-5 2-2 8, Huckaby 4-10 3-3 13, Mulkey 1-4 0-0 2, Love 2-2 0-0 5, Pandy 4-6 4-6 12, Jones 1-2 0-0 3, Blackburn 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 2-3 0-0 4, Lopez 0-1 0-0 0, Lanauze 0-2 0-0 0. Totals – 29-55 7-16 83