Rattlers Bite the Javelinas

Adan Montalvo had 10 points on Wednesday night

KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville men’s basketball team got off to an excellent start against St. Mary’s University of Wednesday night, but could not hold off the Rattlers in the long run losing 56-51 at the Steinke Center. (box score)
The Javelinas (0-2) jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first 6:26 of the game, but found the going much tougher the rest of the way. The Rattlers (1-2) gradually cut into the Hoggie lead and finally took the lead with 20 seconds left in the half on jumper by Marlon Smith. The Rattlers went into the break with a 27-26 lead.
The second half was a story of the Rattlers building up a lead and the Javelinas desperately trying to close the gap. The Hoggies began the half slowly scoring only four points in the first six minutes allowing the Rattlers to take a 38-30 lead with under 14 minutes to play.
The Javelinas went on an 8-0 spurt and tied the score when junior Flavio Milam (Killeen/Ellison HS) drained a three-pointer with 12:39 to play. The Rattlers quickly regained the lead and when the Javs did not score over a four minute stretch, they took advantage by building up a 50-41 lead with under four minutes to play.
The Javelinas closed to within three points after a Robert Williams (Dallas/Kimball HS) put back with 2:10 remaining. The Rattlers were undeterred and Curtis Mitchell drained a back-breaking three-pointer with the shot clock running down to bump the lead back up to six points with 1:09 on the clock. Mitchell’s three-pointer was only the second trifecta the Rattlers made all game long.
Smith led the Rattlers with a game high 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor and an 8-for-11 performance at the charity stripe. Nick Morey added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. They shot 48.8 percent from the floor as a team and were 12-of-17 from the foul line.
Milam and junior Adan Montalvo (La Joya/La Joya HS) were the only Javelinas in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Williams added nine points, eight rebounds and three steals while senior Chip Jones (Fort Worth/U of Houston) added nine points and three blocks off the bench. The Javs shot 52.4 percent from the floor in the first half, but were only 8-for-28 from the field in the second half. They were 3-for-9 from three-point land and 10-of-16 at the foul line.
Each team committed 19 turnovers while the Rattlers had one more rebound than the Javs.
The Javs will look for their first win of the season when they host Texas Lutheran University on Saturday at 2 o’clock.
####
pr08092-smm

Print Friendly Version