KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team erased a seven-point deficit in the final two minutes and earned a come-from-behind, 70-69 victory over the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers in their 2019-20 season opener at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas on Friday night.
"I'm proud of these guys," said coach Johnny Estelle. "We didn't play very well tonight, but our desire to win was there. There are a lot of teams not playing very well right now, but the will to win has got to be there. We had a lot of key contributors. Wellington Stovall gave us a great spark. Creighton Avery did a phenomenal job. It was one of those games where it was a group effort."
Junior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) led all scorers with 21 points, shooting 8-for-17 and adding five rebounds. Sophomore Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) chipped in with 10, hitting 4-of-5 from the floor. Senior Kyren Block (San Antonio, Texas) tied for the game-high in rebounds with nine.
The comeback started for the Javelinas, who had trailed by as many as 12, following a layup by Damani Hayes to make the score 67-60 with 2:05 to play. Flowers answered 10 seconds later with a three from the right corner. Avery then came up with a steal and found junior Sammy Brooks (Dallas, Texas) on the fastbreak for another triple to pull the Hogs to within one. Empty possessions followed from each side before senior John Mouton (Missouri City, Texas) snatched a rebound and found Flowers on the break. The junior went to the hoop for the layup and drew the foul for a three-point play that gave the Hogs a 69-67 lead with 38 seconds remaining.
"I knew I had to get to the basket," said Flowers. "I knew the time situation and I knew we needed a quick bucket. I at least wanted to try and get fouled, but I always attack the goal with the intention of making the shot. I got a great outlet pass from John Mouton. I knew I wanted to go to the basket and try to finish because we needed that bucket to seal the game."
The Javelinas protected their lead by getting a defensive stop and Avery added a free throw with eight seconds to play. The Hardrockers had a chance to tie but a missed three from Allec Williams and a Mitchell Sueker layup at the buzzer left the visitors one point short.
The Hardrockers had built their lead by overcoming a deficit of their own in the first half, when the Hogs used a 10-0 run to build up a 19-10 lead. By scoring 14 of the final 18 points in the initial period, SDSM put themselves ahead by four as the teams headed to the locker room.
For much of the second half, the Javs couldn't get closer than four points and three times the visitors pushed their advantage out to 12, the last instance being at the 7:45 mark, when two foul shots by Williams made the score 61-49. TAMUK responded by tallying 11 of the next 15 points, with six of those coming from Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) and freshman Wellington Stovall (Houston, Texas) canned the bucket that pulled the Javs to within 65-60. Soon after, Hayes hit his layup and the Javelina comeback started from there.
The Javelinas don't have much time to celebrate their win, as they'll be back in action inside the SPEC against Chadron State at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. 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.
