WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Four Javelinas scored in double figures and senior Robert Stevenson (Houston, Texas) fell just one rebound short of a double-double, but the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team saw their regular season end with a 69-68 loss against the MSU Texas Mustangs at the D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls, Texas on Saturday afternoon.
This defeat drops TAMUK to 8-10 in Lone Star Conference play and 12-14 overall. The Javelinas have earned the sixth seed in the LSC Tournament, it was announced Saturday evening. They will play in the tourney's first game, which is scheduled for Thursday at 12 p.m. at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. TAMUK's opponent will be Angelo State.
Stevenson's 10 shots were one short of his season-high and he connected on five of them on his way to 14 points. His nine rebounds were a game-high and he added to his blocked shot total with three rejections.
Junior John Mouton (Missouri City, Texas) and freshman Darius Mickens (Willis, Texas) got on the scoresheet to the tune of 12 points and Mouton also grabbed eight boards. Senior Alex Mills (Laurens, S.C.) hit three three-pointers on his way to 10 points.
The first nine minutes of the game ended with the Mustangs in front 16-14 and neither side had held a lead greater than four points. With 10:33 to play until halftime, a trey from Josh Wallace and a Jared Evans layup pushed MSU's lead to seven.
The Javelinas sliced it three only to see the margin grow back to eight and much of the rest of the first half was spent with the sides exchanging scores. A Stevenson layup with 35 seconds on the clock was the last bucket of the period and the Javs went to the half trailing 36-29.
The first bucket of the second half also came courtesy of Stevenson and the Javelinas tallied 14 of the half's first 18 points, the last four coming on buckets by Mouton and Mickens for a 43-40 lead with five minutes gone.
Less than two minutes later, MSU moved back ahead when D'Monta Harris swished a three, but the Javelinas never fell behind by more than five after that. A triple by Mills immediately brought his team even and the Javelinas tied the game at 50 less than a minute later.
Another Harris three at the 10:14 mark upped Midwestern State's lead to four before layups by freshman Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Stevenson forged another tie and Stevenson gave the Hogs the lead with under seven minutes left with another short range basket.
Unfortunately for the Blue and Gold, MSU scored six straight points and led 69-64 with four minutes on the clock. Two foul shots from Stevenson cut the deficit to three and, with just over a minute to play, Mickens brought to Javs to within one. After that, a missed free throw, a turnover and a missed jumper at the buzzer by Mickens left the Hogs with their second straight defeat.
No team had a lead larger than nine points at any time and the game involved seven ties and six lead changes.
The Javelinas and Mustangs finished about evening in shooting, TAMUK holding a narrow edge, hitting 42.6 percent of their shots compared to MSU's 41.9, but the home team also hit 10-of-28 threes. The Javelinas drained five of their 20 attempts from beyond the arc.
The bench provided the Hogs with 36 points and they also dominated points in the paint with 36 compared to MSU's 24. The home team picked 20 points off the fast break while the Javs logged 11.
The Lone Star Conference Tournament begins on Thursday with TAMUK's 12 p.m. battle against third-seeded Angelo State. To stay up-to-date with TAMUK men's basketball all season long, follow @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and @JavelinaSports on Instagram, like JavelinaMBB on Facebook and visit Javelinaathletics.com.
