STEPHENVILLE, Texas (Men's Basketball) – Five games into the Johnny Estelle era and the Javelinas continued to make the most out of their forced turnovers as Texas A&M University-Kingsville (3-2) scored 25 points off Northwest Nazarene University's (1-5) 22 turnovers en route to an 84-70 victory on Friday evening at the Wisdom Gym on day one of the Tarleton State University Thanksgiving Classic.
 
Duan Wright led the balanced offensive attack with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, DJ Weathers chipped in 14 and Jordan Jahr and Jamar Goodwin followed with 11 and 10, respectively. The Hogs went an outstanding 18-of-21 from the free throw line to offset the Crusaders' streaky shooting as NNU finished 21-of-42 from the field and 8-of-19 from behind-the-arc. The defense also dominated on the glass, allowing just two offensive boards, limiting Northwest Nazarene to zero second chance points.
 
Despite Aubrey Ball's 17 points and the Crusaders' 55 percent shooting in the first half, the Javelinas entered the locker room trailing by one, 43-42. In opening 20 minutes, TAMUK scored 20 points in the paint and 21 bench points.
 
The Blue and Gold answered NNU's layup to begin the second half with a steal by Brandon Etienne and a fast break layup by Jahr. On the ensuing possession, Wright's swipe led to a dunk to give the Javelinas its first lead of the half. After free throws by Erik Kinney tied the game at 49 with 17:09 left to play, Weathers scored the game's next five points to give the Hogs a 54-49 lead before Ball ended NNU's scoreless streak with a jumper to cut TAMUK's lead to three. A 10-2 run blew the game open for the Hogs, 64-55, with just over 10 minutes remaining and the Javelinas would not look back, ending the half with 15 points off turnovers. The Hogs turned the ball over just 10 times in the nonconference tilt.
 
Ball finished with a game-high 22 points and Kinney added 12 points, eight rebounds and six dimes.
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville faces Pittsburg State University (1-3) on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 5 p.m. Live stats will be provided.
 
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