SAN ANTONIO – Junior John Mouton (Missouri City, Texas) logged 16 points and six rebounds, but the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team was handed its sixth defeat of the year, a 65-52 decision at Bill Greehey Arena on Wednesday night in San Antonio.
Mouton's 14 points were a team-high and represented his second-highest point total of the year. His six rebounds were also the most on the squad, one more than freshman Darius Mickens (Willis, Texas).
The teams exchanged four-point bursts to start the game, with the Rattlers (8-5, 1-1) holding an 8-4 edge with 14:32 remaining in the half. The Javelinas (4-6, 0-2) answered with five straight points, including a jumper from senior Alex Mills (Laurens, S.C.) to put the Blue and Gold ahead 9-8, but a basket by Matej Gaspert quickly put the Rattlers back in the lead.
The home team soon used consecutive threes to take the largest edge of the half at 19-12 with 9:02 on the clock. Junior Rashon Thomas (Houston, Texas) responded with back-to-back treys of his own, slicing the deficit to one and a layup by fellow Mouton capped an 8-0 run and TAMUK grabbed the lead.
Much like the Hogs' previous lead, this one was short-lived as well, however. Two Marques Houston foul shots gave the Rattlers a one-point advantage and St. Mary's scored the last four points of the half to lead 27-22 at the break.
The Rattlers outshot their visitors in the first period, 40 percent to 26.5 and they also total 23 rebounds to TAMUK's 19. The Javelinas had better ball security than their hosts, giving the ball away only six times and taking it away in 11 instances.
SMU scored the first bucket of the half on a layup by Skyler Brooks and they set about keeping the Javelinas at arms-length after that. Their lead got as large as 11 with 16:26 to play before the Hogs moved within five at 44-39 at the 9:38 mark thanks to buckets from Mouton and junior Daniel Severo (Osasco, Brazil), but the Javelinas were unable to close the gap any further.
St. Mary's quickly used a three and a pair of free throws to move back ahead by double-digits and their lead grew as large as 13 before the final buzzer sounded.
The teams were nearly even shooting from the floor, with the home team held a slight edge at 38.6 percent to 35.2, but they owned a sizable advantage from beyond the arc, posting a mark of 38.5 compared to TAMUK's 17.4. The Rattlers also hit 21-of-24 from the charity stripe, while the Javelinas hit only 8-of-22 from the foul line.
The Javs turned the ball over only 10 times, their lowest total this season and they totaled 16 takeaways. They also picked up 42 points from their bench.
More than two weeks separate the Javelinas from their next appearance: a Saturday afternoon home affair against Angelo State on Jan. 5th at 4 p.m. To stay up-to-date with TAMUK men's basketball all season, follow @JavelinaMBB on Twitter, @Javelinasports on Instagram, like Javelina Men's Basketball on Facebook and subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel.
