KINGSVILLE – Remi Yusuf broke out of a scoring slump with a career-high 31 points and Stephen Story tipped-in a shot with three seconds left to give the Javelinas a wild 85-84 victory over Eastern New Mexico.
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Yusuf, who had made just 30 percent of his shots over the Javelinas last five games, was unstoppable Saturday, hitting 11 of 12 shots from the floor and 7-of-8 free throws.
Senior forward Kia Griffin blocked two shots and broke up a pass in the final minute to help preserve the victory.
The win improved the Javelinas to 15-5 overall and 2-3 in the Lone Star Conference South Division while the Greyhounds fell to 9-11 overall and 3-3 in league play.
Bobby Pandy had 15 points and Wendell Mulkey came off the bench to score 13 for Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Pandy, Griffin, and Story each had five rebounds for A&M-Kingsville.
Justin Redman-Trotter had 19 points to lead the Greyhounds.
The Javelinas shot a season-best 66 percent for the game and outscored the Greyhounds 50-36 in the paint.
Texas A&M-Kingsville had lost their last two home games by a combined five points with both games being decided in the final 20 seconds.
“We never quit. We had it and gave it to them but fought hard to get it back,” head coach Pete Peterson said. “The effort on Kia’s block after a big turnover, not be shy and not worry about fouls, was big.”
Texas A&M-Kingsville led 81-79 with under a minute to go when Griffin threw the ball away, but hustled down the court and blocked a lay-up by Stephen Wilson. Yusuf grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 28 seconds left.
Yusuf hit both free throws to increase the lead to 83-79, Griffin blocked another Greyhound shot on a drive to the basket, but Dwight Collins hit a 3-point basket and Wilson then stole the ball and laid it in with 11 seconds left to give the Greyhounds their only lead of the game, 84-83.
Out of timeouts, Mulkey drove the length of the court, missed a running jumper, but Story was able to tip the ball in with three seconds. Griffin then knocked a long inbounds pass out of bounds at half court with just over a second left. The Greyhounds then threw the ball away on the ensuing inbounds play to seal the victory for the Javelinas.
The Javelinas led 40-33 at the half, but the Greyhounds cut the lead to 44-39 early in the second half before the Javelinas extended their lead to 53-41 on a Yusuf three-point shot with 14:59 remaining.
The Greyhounds rallied again, tying the score at 74, thanks to 10-4 run by the Greyhounds capped by a three-point shot by Tristan Largent with only 2:41 remaining in the game. That was the only time during the game the score was tied.
The Javelinas got off to a red-hot start in the first half, leading by as many as 16, 20-4, on a Pandy steal and fast break dunk with 12:25 remaining in the first half.
Eastern New Mexico was able to cut the lead to seven, 23-16, at the 8:33 mark on two consecutive three-point shots from Collins that capped an 8-0 run by the Greyhounds.
The Javelinas were able to put the lead back up to double-digits, 30-20, before ENM used a 10-4 run to cut the lead to six, 32-26, on a Kevin Davis jumper with a little less than four minutes remaining until halftime. The Javelinas were able to answer the Greyhound run again and went up 40-28 on a Mulkey three-pointer with 1:19 left in the initial half.
A quick five-point run by Eastern New Mexico made the score 40-33 heading into intermission.
The Javelinas started the game on an 11-0 run with Yusuf and Bobby Pandy combining to score the first nine Javelina points.
A&M-Kingsville outscored the Greyhounds 26-14 in the paint during the first half and shot 65.4 percent from the field while holding Eastern New Mexico to 37.9 percent shooting.
The Javelinas host Tarleton State Monday night.
