KINGSVILLE, Texas (Men's Basketball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (15-9, 8-7 LSC) increases its home win streak to seven games as they took down RV West Texas A&M University (21-7, 9-6 LSC), 76-59 to stay above .500 in the Lone Star Conference on Thursday night at the Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center.

The win for Texas A&M-Kingsville is a good start to shake up the regional rankings as they downed the No. 3 team in the South Central region after claiming the tenth spot one day ago. The Hogs improve their record to 10-0 this season when holding its opponents to under 60 points. 

The Hogs began to create some space on the scored board in the first half after Duan Wright went on an eight point burst to put the home team ahead 30-23 with less than two minutes left in the stanza. After a 13-5 run to open the second half and regain the lead, West Texas A&M had no answer for the Hogs as they were held to just seven points in the final nine and a half minutes, while Kingsville went on a massive 14-3 run. Free throw shooting showed to be essential towards the end of the half as TAMUK shot an .833 clip in the second half to seal the win 76-59. 

Defensively, the Hogs redeemed themselves from a tough pair of games last weekend as they held one of the most prolific offenses in the league to a .345 clip from the field and .360 percentage from three-point range. The Javs put a glove on the conference's leading scorer as they held David Chavlovich to 11 total points. Chavlovich scored eight in the first half.

Wright led all scorers with 22 points followed by Derrick Byrd who scorched the Buffs for a season-high 21 points including an impressive 15-of-18 from the charity stripe. Marcus Frazer chipped in a solid 11 points while Robert Stevenson flirted with a double-double after scoring eight points and grabbing eight rebounds. 

"It was a good team win tonight," said by head coach Johnny Estelle. "As far as our top two scorers tonight, I am on Duan pretty hard and he always shows up for us. I have loved seeing him progress in his career and see the different stages of growth. Also, Byrd has been very impressive as well. Fifteen of 16 made free throws is amazing and actually tops my own personal record."

TEAM LEADERS

Texas A&M-Kingsville
Points: Duan Wright, 22
Rebounds: Robert Stevenson,8
Assists: Will West, 5
Steals: Caelan Neal, 3
Blocks: Two players with two blocks
 

West Texas A&M
Points: Eric Mosley, 13
Rebounds: Three players with five rebounds
Assists: David Chavlovich, 5
Steals: Two players with two steals
Blocks: None

1st Half
Both teams were tied 10-10 through the first two media timeouts. The Hogs then went on a 6-0 run highlighted by a triple from Thomas Diaz, followed by a fast break dunk by Neal to force a Buffs timeout, that ultimately failed to slow down the 6-2 run following the timeout. Late in the half after being held to two points, a three from David Chavlovich found the bottom of the net to cut into the deficit 22-20. He then scored in the paint on a three-point opportunity to give WT a 23-22 lead with 3:38 left in the half. Out of the media timeout, Wright reeled off eight consecutive points giving the Hogs a 30-23 lead under two minutes remaining in the half. 

The Hogs went into the half ahead 32-27 led by Byrd's ten points. Wright was behind him with eight points. As a unit, the Javs shot 42.3% from the floor and held the Buffs to just nine made field goals albeit five were from beyond-the-arc. 

2nd Half
West Texas A&M came out of the locker room hot by opening on a 13-5 run in the first four minutes to take the lead 40-37.  After exchanging a few baskets, Wright knocked down another three to give TAMUK a 50-49 lead, sparking a 14-3 run to increase the margin 62-52 with 4:46 left to play. During that run, the Hogs held the Buffaloes scoreless for over five minutes. The run was enough to put the game away although the Hogs also shot 15-of-18 from the free throw line to cap off the game and defeat West Texas A&M 76-59 to split the season series.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Both teams tallied 35 rebounds in the game.
• The Hogs are 9-0 at home when leading at halftime. 
• The Javelinas forced 13 turnovers in the first half that transitioned to 17 points.
• Four early turnovers ignited the Buffs 13-5 run in the second half.
• The Javelinas held the Buffs scoreless for over five minutes during the 14-3 second half run.
• TAMUK held the LSC leading scorer to 11 total points including just three in the second half.
• Hogs are 10-0 when holding opponents under 60 points and 8-0 in those situations inside the SPEC.
• The Javelinas outscored the Buffs 30-20 in the paint, 26-16 from the bench, 23-20 off of turnovers and 12-8 on fast break points.
• WT was hit with three technical fouls late in the second half. Chavlovich owns one of those technicals, making it his third of the season. He will now have to sit out their next game on Saturday at Angelo State.
• Caelan Neal recorded a season-best two blocks in the win.
• Derrick Byrd was two free throws shy from tying the record for most free made throws in a single game (Chuck Meyer-17 FTM vs, Sam Houston State in 1967-1968 season).
• Duan Wright was four point shy of setting a new career-high in points.
• As a team, the Hogs was one made free throw shy of tying their season-high (23 vs. St, Edwards, 12/10/16). 

Estelle's Corner

When asked about:

…holding West Texas A&M to just seven points in the last 9:27 of ballgame.…

"It was good to see the kids comeback and play a little defense this week. That is what has carried us all year long and last week we fell out of character. We weren't the Javelinas then but we got back to our identity tonight and redeemed ourselves."

…12-3, 7-1 LSC record at home.…

"The fanbase is great. We are doing a lot of good things here to make this a tough place to play. These kids play much better when they have people in the stands cheering for them. Also, if you ever want to be a champion, you have to defend your home floor. These guys do a great job at that as you can see by only losing one conference game at home and that was by two points."

…Pat Smith's made threes and missed free throws.…

"We have a tough task in UTPB coming down Saturday. The beat Angelo State tonight and they are just hot! We had a chance to see them at our tournament earlier this season and played them in their gym so we know they present a big challenge. We will be ready though."

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Texas A&M-Kingsville 76, West Texas A&M 59
Records: Texas A&M-Kingsville (15-9, 8-7 LSC), West Texas A&M (21-7, 9-6 LSC)
Series: Texas A&M-Kingsville is 24-47 against West Texas A&M
Location: The SPEC Kingsville, Texas
Time of Game: 7:30 p.m.

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