KINGSVILLE, Texas – Senior Rashon Thomas (Houston, Texas) set a new career-high with 26 points to help lead the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team to a 64-50 victory over the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds in Lone Star Conference action on Saturday evening at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
This win boosted TAMUK's conference record to 10-3, giving them sole possession of third-place in the LSC, and their overall mark is now 14-5. The Greyhounds suffered their fourth consecutive loss to drop to 5-7 in conference and 5-12 overall.
"Defensively, we did [achieve our goals]," said coach Johnny Estelle. "We held them below their average. It's good to see that because I always think if you play good defense, you're going to have a chance to win no matter what. Our shooting hasn't been very good. We'll have to go back and study that, but any time you can hold someone to 50 points in college basketball, that's a good thing."
Thomas' 26-point day, bested his previous career-high of 23, which he'd reached three times. His performance also included five rebounds and two assists. Junior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas) spent his evening filling up the stat sheet, scoring a career-high 11 points, pulling down eight rebounds, pilfering five steals and blocking two shots.
Senior Daniel Severo (Osasco, Brazil) and sophomore Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) led a dominant effort by the Hogs on the glass, as they each finished with nine rebounds. The Javs outrebounded their guests, 43-27 and collected 18 offensive boards. In the assist column, sophomore Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) handed out three dimes.
The Greyhounds tallied the game's first four points, but TAMUK quickly forged a tie and the teams were never separated by more than three points the rest of the first half. The Javs put up 10 of the period's final 14 points to turn a 22-19 deficit into a 29-26 halftime lead. Five of those points came courtesy of Severo.
ENMU wasted little time cutting their deficit to one in the second half, but TAMUK then set off on an 11-3 run to push their advantage to 41-33 with 11:49 on the clock. A swift response came in the form of a 9-2 rally that sliced the Greyhounds' deficit to one with more than eight minutes remaining.
Over the next few possessions, the difference between the teams ping-ponged between two and four points, but after a layup by Deng Kuany brought ENMU to within 48-46 with 5:04 remaining, both Kuany and his coach, Tres Segler, were called for technical fouls. Thomas proceeded to make all four free throws and he added a three at the 3:41 mark for a 55-46 lead. They Greyhounds were unable to recover after that. The closest they got was within eight points as Thomas and his teammates put the finishing touches on their 14th win.
The open road beckons for the Javelinas, who will visit Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tilt. 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.
