KINGSVILLE, Texas – Junior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) tied a program record with nine made threes in a game and finished with the highest point total by a Javelina in nearly eight years as the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team outscored the Texas A&M-Texarkana Eagles, 82-68, on Saturday evening at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
Flowers racked up 31 points, the highest total by a TAMUK player since Robert Williams had 35 against St. Mary's on Jan. 23rd, 2012. His nine treys tied the record set by his head coach, Johnny Estelle, who drained nine triples in a Lone Star Conference Tournament game against Central Oklahoma on March 2nd, 1996. Flowers also tied the program record by attempting 15 three-pointers.
"I was just trying to get to open spots," said Flowers. "We were moving the ball around and my teammates knew I had the hot hand after I hit the first couple. They kept moving around, trying to find me and I kept getting to my spot."
"If there's anybody I'd want to tie or break that record, it would be him," said Estelle. "He works hard, he's an outstanding kid. He deserves everything."
This Javelina win was by no means a one-man show, however. Sophomore Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) set a career-high with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting and senior John Guerra (Melville, N.Y.) established a personal season-high with 14 points. Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) matched TAMUK's season-high in assists with six and senior John Mouton (Missouri City, Texas) pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
As a team, the Javelinas shot an even 50 percent from the floor, their best shooting percentage since Nov. 28th, 2017, when they shot 50.9 against Angelo State. The team's 20 assists were their most since Nov. 17th, 2017 against CSU-Pueblo.
"I was happy with how we shared the basketball," said Estelle. "20 assists is a lot of assists. We had guys driving and being unselfish and trying to find their teammates and that's how you win."
The Eagles came out playing aggressively, connecting on three early treys to gain a 9-5 lead, but the Hogs had a run in store. They broke an 11-11 tie with 12 straight points that included a pair of threes courtesy of Flowers.
TAMUT responded with a 15-5 rally that sliced the TAMUK lead to two at 28-26 before another Flowers triple put the difference at five. He later hit another three, his sixth of the period, after the Eagles got within 31-28 and the Javs tallied 13 of the final 20 points of the half to take a 44-35 lead into the break.
The sides started the second half by trading buckets from beyond the arc, Chayer and Flowers for the Hogs, Anthony McGee and Kaland Johnson for the Eagles. TAMUK and TAMUT continued exchanging scores until 15:19 remained in the game, when Chayer drained two free throws and Guerra tossed in a triple. McGee quickly brought his team back to within 11 with a trey and the visitors later used a 10-2 burst to get within four points with the score reading Javelinas 65, Eagles 61 and 8:32 before the final buzzer. At that point, Flowers provided the momentum, the Hogs needed to put the game away.
A layup by the junior was soon followed by his eighth long-distance basket of the day and two more from Chayer put the home team up by 11 with less than six minutes on the clock. Less than two minutes later, Flowers sealed his place in the program record book with three-pointer No. 9. Another Chayer layup staked the Blue and Gold to a 77-63 advantage and they cruised the rest of the way for their fourth consecutive win.
The Javelinas will not be in action again until a Dec. 14th trip to Laredo, Texas to face Texas A&M International at 4 p.m. Stay current with TAMUK men's basketball throughout the 2019-20 season by following @JavelinaMBB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter and Instagram, liking Javelina Men's Basketball on Facebook and subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
