KINGSVILLE, Texas (Men's Basketball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (13-7, 6-5 LSC) gets over .500 in conference play for the first time this season after grinding out a 60-59 thriller over Midwestern State University (13-8, 6-6 LSC) Thursday night in the Gil E. Physical Education Center at the Pack the House Gold Out Game.

Texas A&M-Kingsville's four-game winning streak looked as if was coming to a close after Pat Smith's two three-pointers silenced the Javelina fans with 1:55 remaining in the game. Then the incredible happened starting with Trey Sumpter's Reggie Miller-esque highlight clip, draining two triples in 21 seconds. With 12 ticks left, Duan Wright found himself at the charity stripe for three attempts. After making all three, The Javelinas were down 59-58 with hope still alive, yet the ball was back in Pat Smith's hands with a chance to hush the crowd once and for all at the line with little time left for the home team to work with. Shockingly, Smith— an 81% free throw shooter—could not handle the pressure as he choked away both freebees and had a Hog team sprinting back down the court. Derrick Byrd charged towards the basket and was fouled with four seconds on the clock with an opportunity to put his team ahead. Once Byrd made the first free throw, Midwestern's bench tried to "ice the kicker" by calling a timeout before his second attempt. Instead, they learned that Byrd had ice in his veins as he cashed in on the second free throw to go ahead 60-59! MSU quickly came down the court but threw up a shot in hopes of following through on their comeback from the first half, but unfortunately for them, the shot barely grazed the rim and they watched the Hogs celebrate at half court. 

 The win over Midwestern State ended an 18-game drought dating back to the 2007-08 season, while extending the Javelinas home and season winning streak to five. Although Byrd only totaled five points, he had the most important points of the game and set a new season-high of seven assists. Wright led the team with 14 points and seven rebounds. Sumpter was next with a solid 13 points and two steals, followed by Caelan Neal who poured in 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting including two field goals from beyond-the-arc. Neal also recorded a season-best of 5 assists. Robert Stevenson played a phenomenal game as he tallied a career-high six blocks to go along with his seven boards and six points.

"This win was God and the crowd," said head coach Johnny Estelle. "Our kids did a great job staying in there and believing. We will need the crowd again to help us continue on this roll."

TEAM LEADERS

Texas A&M-Kingsville
Points: Duan Wright, 14
Rebounds: Two players with seven rebounds
Assists: Derrick Byrd, 7
Steals: Trey Sumpter, 2
Blocks: Robert Stevenson, 6

Midwestern State
Points: Igor Ibaka, 18
Rebounds: Igor Ibaka, 13
Assists: B.J. Jenkins
Steals: Pat Smith, 4
Blocks: Nemanja Krtolica, 2

1st Half
Both teams traded baskets at the beginning of the half until the Hogs gained an offensive rhythm and led by ten, 17-7 behind two triples from Neal with 11 minutes on the clock. Their lead grew to 12 moments later after Byrd connected from downtown with less than seven minutes remaining in the half. The first frame ended on a bang after Christian Bambrook drained another three-pointer for the Hogs and Neal got up for a dunk to increase the margin to 16. The Javelinas went into the locker room with a 33-20 lead.

Neal paced the team with eight points in the half followed by Bambrook's five points. Offensively, the Hogs owned the paint 16-8, while forcing 12 turnovers and limiting the Mustangs to 7-of-25 shooting on the defensive end.

2nd Half
The Stangs returned to the floor with comeback on their minds. Late in the half with the game knotted at 48, MSU's Pat Smith connected on two three-pointers—what he thought was daggers—with 3:02 and 1:55 on the clock (54-48). Sumpter then reached in his bag of tricks by scoring two treys in 21 seconds, leaving 20 seconds in regulation. After Igor Ibaka went 1-of-2 at the stripe, Wright was fouled on a three-point attempt and sunk all three to bring the score to 59-58 in favor of Midwestern State. The Hogs fouled quickly on the Mustangs ensuing possession, sending Pat Smith, an 81% free throw shooter to the line with 11 ticks as the time. Smith missed both free throws and with time fading away, Byrd drove to the basket and drew a foul with four seconds remaining. Byrd converted on both free throws to give TAMUK a 60-59 lead and after a prayer thrown up by the visitors, the court was stormed by blue and gold as the buzzer went off clinching the Javelinas fifth consecutive victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Javelinas tied a season-best 16 assist. Both times came against Midwestern State.
• TAMUK did not have a free throw attempt in the 1st half and tied a season-low of eight made free throws.
• The Hogs 5-of-13 from three point range in the first half and shot 5-of-11 in the second half.
• In the second half, TAMUK did not score a point in the paint.
• The bench was dominant for the Hogs as they outscored their opponent 18-2.
• MSU shot better than TAMUK from the floor (38.8%-36.2%) and from three-point range (50%-41.7%).
• Derrick Byrd's game-winning free throws in the second half were his only points of the half.

Estelle's Corner

When asked about:

…the confidence the team is playing with.…

"When we were 1-5 I kept saying that we weren't a 1-5 team. The wasn't me being arrogant but I knew that once we were healthy and playing our brand of basketball, which I believe we are doing, we would peak at the right time. We believe we can make a run at this thing."

…what he told Derrick Byrd before his free throw attempts.…

"I told him that he will make the shots. This is why he is here and why we recruited him. Anyone who is around me when I coach know that I am hard on my guards because they are quarterbacks of the team. They have to be the brains of the operation and whenever I get on Byrd and coach him up, he takes it and never pouts. He wants to be coached and he wants to get better. All of the great ones do so I was confident in him."

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

"We just had to believe when hit hit those shots late. Today we focused on the word sustain and no matter what came our way we had to sustain and believe in ourselves. As far as on the missed free throws, the pressure to make that shot in that situation and in this environment is immense. He made some big shots tonight and I told him after the game that he is a warrior. He's an awesome player, he just came up short tonight."

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Texas A&M-Kingsville 60, Midwestern State 59
Records: Texas A&M-Kingsville (13-7, 6-5 LSC), Midwestern State (13-8, 6-6 LSC)
Series: Texas A&M-Kingsville are 12-35 against Midwestern State
Location: The SPEC Kingsville, Texas
Time of Game: 7:30 p.m.

For full coverage of Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball, please follow @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and Instagram, like the official Facebook page of Javelina athletics (/JavelinaSports), and subscribe to the JavelinaAthletics YouTube channel.