COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In a game that went down to the wire, the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team gave the Texas A&M Aggies all they could handle in a narrow 81-74 defeat at Reed Arena on Tuesday night in an exhibition game in College Station, Texas.
"I'm proud of my guys," said coach Johnny Estelle. "I'm proud of the way they represented the Javelina Nation tonight. I'm very proud of how they competed and tried to win. You don't want to ever say you're happy after a defeat, but you played a really well coached, SEC team that plays at a high level without much time to practice. Coach [Buzz] Williams is one of the best coaches in America. His staff is first-class, his players are really good. I'm proud of my guys and my staff."
Junior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) led all players with 24 points on 10-of-23 shooting and he also added a team-high four assists. Fellow junior Sammy Brooks (Dallas, Texas) piled up 14 points and led the Javelinas in three-point buckets with four.
"For us, I feel like this was a statement game," said Flowers. "We felt like A&M was going to take us lightly being a Division II team, but we wanted show them what Javelina basketball is all about. I think we did that. It was a good game for us to get ourselves rolling. What better way to start the season than to play A&M."
The Aggies used the first three minutes to jump out to 9-3 lead during which time they scored seven straight points, but the Javelinas hung tough. They tallied 18 of the next 23, a run that was sparked in part by Brooks, who canned consecutive treys. Senior Daniel Severo (Osasco, Brazil) capped the rally with back-to-back layups for a 21-14 lead.
The home team replied swiftly with 16 consecutive points giving, making the score Aggies 30, Javelinas 21 with six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the period.
Flowers helped his team get within two by scoring six of the next 10 points, including the bucket that sliced the Javs' deficit to 34-32 at the 2:48 mark. The end of the first half belonged to the home team, however. They counted 12 of the final 14 points before the teams headed to the break separated by 12 at 46-34. A&M shot 65.4 percent in the first half and went 5-for-10 from three. The Javs hit 43.3 percent of their first half shots.
The Javelinas came out swinging in the second half, recording the first six points, the last two coming a stuff courtesy of sophomore Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas). After the Aggies pushed their lead back out to six, two from Severo and three from Brooks brought the visitors to within 50-49 with 14:48 remaining in regulation.
With the Javs within two moments later, A&M scored 11 consecutive points to up their lead to 13, only for the Javelinas to battle back again. Two three-point plays in-a-row from Flowers pulled the Blue and Gold to within six before layups from senior John Guerra (Melville, N.Y.) and Chayer made it a two-point game at 67-65 with the clock at 6:44.
The Javelinas closed to within one possession four times in the final four minutes, including twice over the last 60 seconds, but their opponents responded in each instance. The Aggies used several late free throws to push the final margin to seven.
The first regular season game of the 2019-20 season will double as TAMUK's home opener on Nov. 8th, when they will take on South Dakota Mines at 7 p.m. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy. To stay up-to-date with TAMUK men's basketball all year long, follow @JavelinaMBB on Twitter, @Javelinasports on Instagram, like Javelina Men's Basketball on Facebook and subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel.
