SILVER CITY, N.M. – Led by a pair of fantastic performances from juniors Rashon Thomas (Houston, Texas) and Chauncey Thomas (Plano, Texas), the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team notched its third straight victory, collecting a 70-61 decision over the Western New Mexico Mustangs on Thursday evening at Drag's Court in Silver City, N.M.
"First of all," said coach Johnny Estelle, "I want to say this Western New Mexico team was well prepared by coach Enriquez and his staff. They had a great environment and crowd tonight as well.
"With that being said, I thought our kids played hard and made plays to win the game. Rashon Thomas was unbelievable tonight on the offensive end. It was a solid team effort and I thought out point guards, Chauncey Thomas and Darius Mickens, did a good job controlling the tempo. Our team chemistry and spirit has been good all year, but I believe we are now figuring out who we are as a team."
Rashon Thomas set two new season-highs for the Javelinas (7-7, 3-3) by pouring in 22 points and draining five three-pointers. He also hit half of his 16 shots from the floor. Chauncey Thomas racked up 14 points, hitting six of seven attempts from the free throw line, while passing out a game-high six assists. The Plano native now has 15 assists in his last three games.
The Javs easily outshot their opponents, posting an overall shooting percentage of 45.5 compared to 36.5 for the Mustangs (3-10, 0-6). This marked the fourth time this in its last five games TAMUK has held the opposition to a shooting percentage under 40 percent. The Hogs also dominated in the low post, outscoring WNMU 34-20 on points in paint and outrebounding their foes, 36-33.
Rashon Thomas got the Hogs off to a fast start by draining a trio of three-pointers in the first two minutes, opening up a nine-point lead that later grew to 10 at 14-4 when junior John Mouton (Missouri City, Texas) drained a trey.
Following another Rashon Thomas triple to make the score 21-13 with 10:01 to play in the period, a 15-6 rally by Western New Mexico slid the home side in front by one, but the lead was short-lived. Mouton moved the Javs back in front with a layup that sparked a 15-4 run to close the half for the Blue and Gold. Chauncey Thomas contributed nine points during that stretch, including a pair of spotless trips to the charity stripe and TAMUK led 42-32 through one half.
By scoring 11 of the first 16 points of the second half, WNMU closed within four in five minutes before freshman Darius Mickens (Willis, Texas) restored order by sinking a jumper and a layup with 12:34 to play in regulation. The rookie would finish the night with 13 points to his credit.
That 51-43 lead proved to be a formidable deficit and the Javelina defense made it stand up over the final 12-and-a-half minutes. TAMUK held their hosts to just 5-of-13 shooting the rest of way, forced five turnovers and never allowed the Mustangs to get closer than five points. The Hogs also stretched the lead out to double-digits multiple times, going ahead by as many as twelve following a 7-0 spurt that included four points from senior Robert Stevenson (Houston, Texas). Another Stevenson layup and foul shots by Mickens and Rashon Thomas in the closing minutes iced TAMUK's third straight triumph.
Saturday afternoon will see the Javelinas in action on the road again as they'll visit the UT Permian Basin Falcons in a matchup scheduled to start to 4 p.m. in Odessa, Texas. 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.
