KINGSVILLE, Texas – After a regular season in which they picked up 20 wins for the first time in more than 20 years, the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team is prepared to start the postseason and the win-or-go-home portion of their year begins on Friday at the Lone Star Conference Tournament, where the Javelinas' first round matchup will pit them against the Dallas Baptist Patriots in a 2 p.m. matchup at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
The Hogs finished the regular season with a flurry, topping DBU and Tarleton on their home floor to complete their most successful regular season since 1995-96. Their reward was a first-round bye and the third seed in the conference tournament, their highest since that '95-'96 campaign, but now the Javelinas will have to deal with DBU for a third time in 2019-20.
This clash will occur just eight days after these teams met in Kingsville in a nail-biter that ended up a 70-65 decision in TAMUK's favor. This evened the score between the Javs and the Patriots, who handed the Blue and Gold their most lopsided defeat of the season, 72-55, on Jan. 4th in Dallas.
In both games, junior guard Chandler Jacobs was a thorn in TAMUK's side, scoring a game-high 19 in the first tilt, then leaving Kingsville with another 18 points to his credit in the rematch. Jacobs was one of four players in double figures in his team's January triumph, which also saw Conner Lidiak toss in four threes and finish with 14. The other factors that led to DBU coming out on top were a 37-29 edge in rebounds and a Patriots defense that held the Hogs to a shooting percentage of 33.3 from the floor, their second-lowest mark of the year.
The Javs played a very different game in February to even the season series, crafting a shooting percentage of 47.8 and finishing plus-six in rebounds. Another mark in TAMUK's favor was a red-hot shooting night from junior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas), who hit 8-of-11 shots and reached the 20-point threshold for the fourth time, recording 21 and also tying a team-high with three assists. Flowers followed up that performance by scoring 16 in a Saturday win over Tarleton, paving the way for him to receive the LSC Offensive Player of the Week award.
Flowers wasn't the only player to put together an excellent final week of the regular season. Both Javelina point guards put themselves in the spotlight with top-notch showings against the Texans. Senior Chauncey Thomas (Plano, Texas) set a new season-high with nine assists while sophomore Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) reached his best total of the year in scoring with 17 points. Junior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas) put up his first double-double of the year at the expense of TSU. Senior Rashon Thomas (Houston, Texas), the team's leading scorer so far this year, had his best day of the week against DBU, putting up 18 points on the Patriots for the second time.
Slowing down Jacobs will have to be a top priority for Thomas and his teammates, as the kid from Missouri City has spent his junior year scoring at the expense of more teams than just TAMUK. His average of 16.3 points per game puts in the LSC's top 10 in that category and he's put up as many as 32 in a single game in 2019-20. His efforts have helped DBU average 81.3 points per game this season, fourth-most in the LSC.
Links to complete coverage every game the Javelinas play in the conference tournament, including live video, live stats and a recap at the conclusion of each contest, can be found at Javelinaathletics.com. Tickets will be available at the Comerica Center Box Office or through Ticketmaster. Single-session tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students (University students with valid school I.D. (any institution) or children ages 2-18). Fans can save $15 off the regular price for all-session passes and avoid fees by making an on-campus advance purchase. The all-session ticket grants access to all seven sessions at a reduced rate of $45. The all-session price increases to $60 for those not purchased through LSC schools by March 4.
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.
