KINGSVILLE, Texas – Junior Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) logged his first double-double as a Javelina and junior Creighton Avery shot 6-of-7 from the field to spearhead a 70-56 victory for the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team over the St. Mary's Rattlers on Thursday night in Lone Star Conference action at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
"We found a way to win," said coach Johnny Estelle. "We didn't play particularly well in any phase of the game tonight, but that's a tribute to St. Mary's. They did some things that made it a little helter-skelter for us. We didn't handle it right for the majority of the game but we found a way to win."
Avery and Wilson both finished with a team-high 15 points and the pair combined for 24 in the second half. Wilson's 11 rebounds led all players and matched the highest total by a Javelina in a game this season. Another junior, Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas), scored in double figures for the third time this season, pocketing 13 points and shooting 5-of-8.
The Javs outshot their guests, shooting 46 percent overall while the Rattlers were held to 36 percent, and they dropped in 10 threes as well. This was the seventh time in nine games the Hogs knocked down at least 10 treys. In 30 games during the 2019-20 campaign, TAMUK made 10 triples nine times. The home team also finished the night plus-four in turnover margin and they turned 23 takeaways into 32 points.
The Javelinas raced out to the game's first lead, scoring 10 of the night's first 12 points, keyed by treys from freshman Derek Luna (Palmview, Texas) and junior Tyrese Patterson (Harlem, N.Y.). The Rattlers answered with an 11-4 run that brought them to within a point as the clock ticked past the halfway point in the first half.
StMU had a chance to take the lead on two Tyler Caron free throws, but neither one went through and the Hogs soon regained the momentum. Another Javelina triple, this one courtesy of Avery, jumpstarted a 15-2 burst that gave TAMUK a 14-point edge. They maintained that advantage into halftime, leading 33-19.
The second half started with the Rattlers scoring 12 of the first 17 points and cutting their deficit to 38-31. The response from the Hogs started with eight straight points from Avery during a 12-0 stretch and, after a Norman Beckford layup for StMU, Wilson drained a three for his team's first 20-point lead of the night at 53-33.
A 13-4 run by the Rattlers brought them to within 62-52 with five minutes to play before the Javelinas regained control and held on for the win.
The Javelinas and Rattlers won't have to wait long to meet each other again. They'll square off in San Antonio on Saturday with the tip-off at 5:30 p.m. Fans can keep up with Javelina men's basketball throughout the season by following @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and Instagram, liking Texas A&M University-Kingsville Men's Basketball on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
