KINGSVILLE, Texas – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (9-8, 2-5 LSC) pushed #8 West Texas A&M (16-1, 6-1 LSC) to the limit as they barely escaped Hog Heaven with a 70-69 win on Saturday afternoon at the Gil E. Steinke Physical Education. 

The Javelinas were where they needed to be all afternoon to make this upset a reality. They outscored the Buffs in the paint (28-26), in points off of turnovers (19-4), on second-chance points (11-10), and even bench points 23-18. They shot nearly 88 percent in the game from the free throw line (29-of-33) and held the nationally ranked team well below their scoring average. Unfortunately, the Javs could not get it going at the three-point line as they shot 2-of-16 yet still loss by just one point. 

Cris Boleware turned in a career-high 19 points as well as a career-best 10-of-11 at the line to lead the Javelinas. Trey Sumpter concluded the game with ten points and seven rebounds, Will West had seven points, five rebounds, and two assists, and both Kyren Block and Caelan Neal ended the game with six points. Neal also finished with six rebounds and tied for a game-high three assists. 

David Chavlovich scored a game-high 20 points, had six rebounds and three assists in the win. Ryan Quaid posted a quiet double-double with 14 points and ten rebounds, while Drew Evans rounded out West Texas A&M's top scorers with 12 points.   

First Half
Despite a tough 1-of-9 performance from behind the arc, the Javelinas stuck with No. 8 in large part to rebounding. The home team won the battle on the boards 20-18 and 10-3 on the offensive end, translating to 11 points. TAMUK led early, but two lengthy runs by the Buffaloes put them ahead 19-8 at the 10:17 mark. The Hogs would pull within four points highlighted by an 8-2 run and cut the deficit to three (32-29) with 1:25 remaining. West Texas shot well at the charity stripe though, ending the frame 3-of-4 to help them possess a 35-31 lead at the half.

Sumpter led the Blue and Gold with eight points, followed by Block's six points who was 2-of-2 from the floor and free throw line. Jacolby Harris and West chipped in four points each with West leading the team with four rebounds and two assists.  

Second Half
The Javelinas made it count at the line, shooting a perfect 14-of-14 with 6:36 on the clock and was an impressive 21-of-22 in the second half. Fresh out of halftime, Jordan Collins drained a triple to set the tone as WT scored on four of their first five possessions. However, prior to the media timeout, Boleware knocked down the open trey, making the score 45-38 with 15:18 on the clock. Although trailing by as many as 11 points in the half, TAMUK kept fighting and found themselves down by five under ten minutes. Moments later, Robert Stevenson got everyone going by completing an alley-oop that brought the score to 57-56 in WT's favor. Fast-forwarding under three minutes, Boleware made it a one-point game again with two more freebies followed by a pair of free throws by Stevenson that gave the Hogs a 67-66 lead – their first since 16 minutes in the first half. After exchanging field goals, Chavlovich showed his clutch gene by nailing a jumper with three seconds left but also gave the Hogs one last chance to complete the upset. Boleware drove the distance of the floor and got a fair look, but the ball would not cooperate as it hit the top of the square and fell off of the front rim, securing a WT 70-69 win.  

Next for Texas A&M-Kingsville will be a five-game road trip beginning with Eastern New Mexico in Portales, N.M. on Thursday, January 18 at 1 p.m. central time zone.   

Become a member of the 6th Man Pack that features great benefits such as reserved chairback seating for home games and access to the 6th Man Pack Lounge at LSC doubleheaders for the 2017-18 season. The 6th Man Pack Lounge will be catered by Fatman's Meat Market. For more information on joining the team, contact the ticket office at 361-593-4030. 

Receive content for Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball by following @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and Instagram, like the official Facebook page of Javelina athletics (/JavelinaSports), and subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel.