CANYON, Texas – The No. 5 West Texas Buffaloes scored eight of the final 11 points in overtime to sneak past the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team, 90-89, on Saturday afternoon at the First United Bank Center in Lone Star Conference action in Canyon, Texas.
Freshman Darius Mickens (Willis, Texas) matched the season-high for points in a game for a Javelina by churning out 23 on 10-of-22 shooting and also grabbing a season-high seven rebounds. That point total included 17 points in the second half.
Junior Rashon Thomas (Houston, Texas) also had a solid night with 15 points and was perfect from the free throw line, hitting all six of his attempts. Junior John Mouton (Missouri City, Texas) was credited with 13 points and freshman Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) added 11.
The most critical stretch in the game began at the 1:50 mark of the extra period after a put-back from Mouton staked the visitors to an 86-81 lead. Brandon Hall hit an open three, pulling WT to within two, but the Hogs had an answer in the form of a Robert Stevenson (Houston, Texas) dunk with 90 seconds to play. Each team then got a stop and Gach Gach canned a deep three to cut the Hog lead to one.
After a missed jumper by Mickens, Hall drew a foul and hit both free throws for a one-point edge. Mouton hit one-of-two from the line to tie the game with 15 seconds to play, but a foul on Ryan Quaid with under two seconds remaining put him at the line to tack on the winning point.
The Buffs tallied the first six points before the Javelinas raced back to tie the game at 10. The Javelinas tied the score again at 15 and took their first lead, 18-17, thanks to a three from junior Daniel Severo (Osacso, Brazil). After Quaid hit a trey for WT, the Javs scored six straight, which turned into a 13-1 run, capped by a Chayer three for a 31-21 lead.
The Buffs whittled the lead down to eight, then took of on a 13-4 rally to close out the half. A last-second layup from Qua Grant allowed the Buffs to sneak into the locker room ahead 39-38.
A trey courtesy of Jacolby Harris (Delray, Fla.) tied the game at 41-41 early in the second half and the teams were never separated by more than four points at any time during the rest of regulation. Each team was up by four multiple times, only to be unable to build on that advantage. The second half also included eight ties.
The second-to-last tie came at the 5:04 mark when the teams were level at 67. A 6-2 stretch that included a three from Quaid put WT ahead by four, but Mickens responded with a three. Each team tacked on three and Joel Murray drained a three for a 78-74 lead, only to see Chayer sink two free throws and Mickens swish a layup for a 78-78 deadlock. A turnover by WT and a pair of last-second misses by the Javelinas sent the game to overtime.
Both teams shot the ball well, with TAMUK finishing 32-of-68, a percentage of 47.1 while WT shot 46.3 percent. The Javs also hit 44.4 percent of their three point tries, besting West Texas' percentage of 39.3 and the visitors dominated on the glass with 40 rebounds while limiting their opponents to 30.
West Texas forced 19 turnovers which they turned into 24 points. The Javelinas totaled 13 takeaways, turning those chances into 12 points.
The last home weekend of the season for the Javelinas begins on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. matchup with UT Permian Basin. Stay current with TAMUK men's basketball all year long by following @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and @JavelinaSports on Instagram, liking JavelinaMBB on Facebook and visiting Javelinaathletics.com.
