Kingsville – Sophomore guard Adan Montalvo (La Joya) scored a career-high 22 points and senior center Juan Lanauze posted a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds as Texas A&M-Kingsville equaled its second best start to a season in school history with a 58-52 win over Southeastern Oklahoma at Kleberg Bank Court in Kingsville. Click here for stats.
Texas A&M-Kingsville is now 5-0 on the season for the second consecutive year while Southeastern Oklahoma fell to 2-3.
Ken Reed led the Savage Storm with 18.
The Javelinas used a scrambling halfcourt defense and precision halfcourt offense to earn the victory.
A&M-Kingsville forced 24 turnovers while committing only 11 and had 14 steals, a career-high seven by point guard Wendell Mulkey (San Antonio East Central).
“I new if we’d get the lead we’d be alright,” said Javelina head coach Pete Peterson. “We played smart and had great execution offensively late in the game.”
The Hogs started the second half much the way they started the first half, ice cold. A&M-Kingsville missed its first five shots from the floor to start the second half and trailed 29-24.
But that all changed over the next eight minutes as the Javelinas put together a 19-4 scoring run to grab a 43-33 lead with 10:37 left in the game.
The A&M-Kingsville advantage grew to 12, 49-37 with 7:54 remaining before Southeastern rallied.
The Savage Storm cut the lead to four, 49-45, over the next three minutes, but the Hogs played brilliantly in the halfcourt, scoring four layups in their next five possessions.
Montalvo then made two free throws with 22 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
A&M-Kingsville won despite making two fewer field goals and being out-shot 46 percent to 35 percent, but the Javelinas out-scored the Savage Storm 14-5 at the free throw line.
The Javelinas struggled offensively in the first half, missing their first eight shots from the floor and trailing 26-24 at the half.
A&M-Kingsville shot just under 26 percent over the first 20 minutes, making just 7 of 27 shots including 4 of 15 3-point shots.
