KINGSVILLE, Texas (Men's Basketball) – The Lone Star Conference continued its dominance over St. Mary's University (2-7) as Texas A&M University-Kingsville (7-2) rolled in Tuesday night's 71-53 win inside of the Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center-Kingsville Hampton Inn Court.

The Javelinas handed the Rattlers their fourth consecutive loss to an LSC opponent this season and swept the season series after shooting 42.9% from the floor and 76.2% from the charity stripe. The Blue and Gold had three players score in double figures starting with Trey Sumpter who had 17 points and also had a game-best seven rebounds. Caelan Neal finished with 14 points and a game-high of four assists, while Justin Jones added a season-best ten points.

Texas A&M-Kingsville continued to excel defensively and are now 4-0 when holding their opponents under 60 points. The Rattlers had a shooting percentage of 38 including a 3-of-13 performance from three-point range. StMU came into the game with four players having a scoring average in double-digits. However, they were no match for the glove that is Kingsville's defense as only one player—Yanni Wetzell—sniffed out 15 points in the loss.

"It was a hard fought game," head coach Johnny Estelle said. "St. Mary's has a good team and they were not going to quit. We just did a good job coming out in the second half and playing Javelina Basketball."   

TEAM LEADERS

Texas A&M-Kingsville
Points: Trey Sumpter, 17
Rebounds: Trey Sumpter, 7
Assists: Caelan Neal, 4
Steals: Derrick Byrd, 2
Blocks: Two players with one block

St. Mary's
Points: Yanni Wetzell, 15
Rebounds: Yanni Wetzell, 6
Assists: Will Ferguson, 3
Steals: Two players with one steal
Blocks: Dimitri Peterson, 1

1st Half
After exchanging buckets early in the half,the Hogs reeled off 11 unanswered points to take a 19-8 lead, highlighted by a triple from Christian Bambrook and an alley-oop from Derrick Byrd to Duan Wright. TAMUK's stingy defense held StMU without a field goal for nearly 12 minutes before Yanni Wetzell converted on a floater to cut the visitors deficit to 25-12. Though the Rattlers ended the half on a 10-4 run, the Javelinas entered the locker room with a 29-22 lead. Offensively, A&M-Kingsville was balanced with five players scoring four points and the team finished the stanza at a .400 clip from the floor. StMU was 7-of-30 from the field and both teams concluded the half with eight turnovers.

2nd Half
After both teams combined for only two made three-pointers in the opening half, four were made in the first five minutes of the second half, including back-to-back deep balls from TAMUK's Neal. Shots continued to fall for the home team as they extended their lead 63-46 after Sumpter drained his first shot from long distance with 3:34 left to play. Mr. Moneyball then got things rolling as he struck from downtown two more times as the Javelinas completed the route 71-53. The Alabama native closed the half with 13 points and was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Neal followed with ten points and Jones gave the team a big lift off of the bench with six points in the final frame.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TAMUK outworked StMU in the paint 18-8 in the first half and outscored the visitors from the bench 11-3.
• Both teams made one three-pointer in the opening half. 
• After the first half, no Javelina had six points or more.
• The Hogs had six made three-point field goals made in the second half. Three from Sumpter, two from Neal and one from Jones.
• StMU bench outscored TAMUK 20-10 in the second half but turned the ball over nine times to the Javs two.
• The Javelinas owned the paint in the game as they outscored the Rattlers 32-18.

Estelle's Corner

When asked about:

…the defense and team chemistry.…

"I really like what we are doing defensively. We are a tough group and we can throw different lineups at you. We are truly a team and I always like to have a team. Good teams beat good players. We are not where we need to be yet but we are jelling and battling everyday."

…the upcoming LSC road games against Cameron and Midwestern State.…

"It'll be a battle. Both of those teams are really good and well coached. They are not going to want to want to lose at home and we need some road wins. When I played, Coach Carter use to tell us if we win every home game—which is tough to do—and split the road games, then we have a chance to win the championship. Our goal is not to split the road games. We may not win them all but we are going to give it our all and see where the chips fall."

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Texas A&M-Kingsville 71, St. Mary's 53
Records: Texas A&M-Kingsville (7-2), St. Mary's (2-7)
Series: Texas A&M-Kingsville are 53-60 against St. Mary's
Location: The SPEC Kingsville, Texas
Time of Game: 7:30 p.m.

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