KINGSVILLE, Texas – Five different players scored in double figures, helping the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team post a season-high 96 points and set a new program record by notching their 14th Lone Star Conference victory of the season, a 96-62 rout of the Texas A&M International Dustdevils on Saturday evening at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
The Javelinas' win, which upped their conference record to 14-4 and their overall mark to 18-6, combined with losses by Angelo State and Lubbock Christian gave the Hogs a two-game edge over the Rams and Chaps in pursuit of a first-round bye in the LSC Tournament. The Dustdevils have now dropped six-in-a-row and are 3-21 overall and 1-17 in conference.
"We finally reached our pinnacle," said coach Johnny Estelle, "and put together two halves of Javelina basketball. We kept pressure on our opponent the whole game and that pressure and our execution wore them down a little bit."
Leading the way in this scoring barrage was senior Rashon Thomas (Houston, Texas), who scored a game-high 18 points, swiped six steals and handed out three assists. Junior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) wasn't far behind with 16 on 6-of-8 shooting and senior Chauncey Thomas (Plano, Texas) logged 14 points, hitting 6-of-7 from the field. Another fourth-year player, John Guerra (Melville, N.Y.) scored 11 and sophomore Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) posted his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. All 11 Javelinas in the box score finished with at least three points.
This marked TAMUK's highest point total in a non-overtime game since a 107-88 win over St. Edward's on Nov. 22nd, 2011.
The Javelinas got on the board with the game's first five points and TAMIU responded with five points of their own, but that would be only tie score in the game. TAMUK held a 14-13 lead with 13:26 left in the half, then tallied nine of the next 12 points go up 23-16.
The visitors closed to within four before TAMUK took off again. Layups from Rashon and Chauncey Thomas touched off an 8-0 run to increase the difference to 12 and that's where it stood when the halftime buzzer sounded, the scoreboard reading Javelinas 38, Dustdevils 26.
Almost immediately, the Blue and Gold seized control in the second half. Flowers and senior John Mouton (Missouri City, Texas) both hit threes in a 10-0 burst to start the period and the Dustdevils never got closer than 19 after that.
When TAMIU got as close as 63-43 at the 10:25 mark, Flowers answered with a triple and Chauncey Thomas added a three-point play. TAMUK later used a 14-4 run to extend their edge to 33 at 83-50. Chayer accounted for six of those points and freshman Jake Majors (Corpus Christi, Texas) capped the stretch with a jumper. Majors, Chayer and the rest of the Hogs spent the rest of the day pouring it on until the clock ran out.
The Javelinas will soon commence with one of their toughest road trips of the season, beginning at Angelo State on Thursday at 7 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.
