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KINGSVILLE, Texas (Men's Basketball) – A tightly contested Lone Star Conference matchup featured men's basketball claw their way back from being down by as much as 17 to just five, but No. 11/14 Tarleton State University (22-2, 9-2 LSC) escaped Kingsville Hampton Inn Court with a 75-70 victory over Texas A&M University-Kingsville (7-16, 2-9 LSC) on Saturday evening.
 
With the win, the Texans swept the regular season series over the Hogs. Duan Wright led all Javelina players with 15 points, DJ Weathers scored 12 and Don Thomas added 11. Four TSU players reached double figures, led by Michael Hardge and TaShawn Mabry's 16 points apiece.
 
"I am proud of the way our guys continued to fight," said head coach Johnny Estelle. "It is frustrating to see the end result, but we are working to improve as a unit and give Javelina Nation a men's basketball team to be proud of. We had to tinker with the lineup and Elliot Taylor played some big minutes for us in the second half. We have a couple of games left to get the ball rolling heading into the LSC tourney."
 
A scoring drought to end the half allowed the Texans to enter the locker room with a commanding 17-point lead. The balanced offensive attack featured five players score at least five points as TSU shot 63.2 percent from the field, while the Javelinas were 6-of-22.
 
Free throws played a huge role early in the second half as the Javelinas cut their deficit to 47-39 with 11:45, going 11-of-14 from the free throw line. Jamar Goodwin drained a corner triple following TSU free throws and Elliot Taylor found the bottom of the net after forcing a Tarleton turnover, making it a five-point ballgame.
 
However, the Texans settled down and took a 12-point lead with 6:25 left to play despite its poor shooting (10-14 from the charity stripe). The press was crucial to TAMUK's comeback hopes with Kingsville going on a 12-1 run over 2:01. Led by clutch three-point shooting, the Javelinas cut TSU's lead to six with 4:54 remaining.
 
Tarleton went 1-of-2 at the line and Weathers' lay-up on the other end cut the Texan lead to five.  Jordan Jahr connected on TAMUK's eighth three-pointer of the game with 1:13 remaining to cut TSU's lead to seven.
 
Weathers pushed the ball and scored on a fast break bucket to make it a five-point game with just over 17 seconds remaining. After seeing TSU drain both from the line, Thomas returned the favor to keep in a two-possession game but the Texans preserved to earn the regular season sweep.
 
The Javelinas host Cameron University on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in its Senior Night game. Prior to the game, Thomas, Justin Philippe and Jahr will be honored for their contributions to the men's basketball program.
 
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