KINGSVILLE, Texas – Junior Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) was a red-hot 9-of-12 from the floor for a career-high 22 points and he helped guide the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team past the Texas A&M International Dustdevils, 62-49, on Saturday afternoon in Lone Star Conference action at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building in Laredo, Texas.
"This was not one of our best games," said coach Johnny Estelle, "but I have to give credit to coach McConnell and his staff. Their kids played hard and fought tonight.
As for the Javelinas, we didn't play to our standards in any phase of the game, but Creighton Avery was phenomenal and really played well in spite of being in foul trouble in the first half. His leadership and production was impactful tonight."
Avery's 22-point afternoon surpassed his previous top performance of 17 points, which he set on Feb. 29th, 2020 against Tarleton State and he also added a team-best three assists. Sophomore Wellington Stovall (Houston, Texas) set a career-high of his own with 11 rebounds, which led all players and helped TAMUK dominate on the glass to the tune of a 35-17 advantage. Senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) contributed 12 points to the Javelinas' cause.
"I was pleased with the overall play of Marcus Jones, Wellington Stovall, Will Chayer and Tre Flowers," said Estelle. "It was an ugly game in terms of execution and productivity, but we will not give back the win."
TAMUK's defense held TAMIU to 37.2 percent shooting for the game and 27.3 percent in the second half. The Hogs also forced 18 turnovers.
More than three minutes elapsed in the opening half before either side got on the scoreboard, but the teams soon started trading buckets until TAMUK held a 7-6 edge. A jumper by Avery and a Tyrese Patterson (Harlem, N.Y.) three-point play then sparked a 9-3 burst that made the score 16-9.
The Javelinas would push their advantage to as many as nine in the first half, but the Dustdevils used two buckets in the final minute of the period to cut that deficit to three and the buzzer for halftime sounded with the Hogs ahead 29-26.
A Journee Phillips jumper to start the second half quickly trimmed the Hog lead to one, but Estelle's crew responded by scoring nine of the game's next 11 points to go ahead 39-30. Avery contributed six points during that stretch.
TAMIU responded by closing to withing four, only for a Patterson layup to commence another Javelina run, this one giving the visitors a 47-35 lead. Avery then proceeded to score 11 straight points for the Javs before a Marcus Jones (Cheneyville, La.) trey with 1:16 remaining provided the final dagger. Of Avery's 22 points, 20 of them came in the final period.
The Javelinas and Dustdevils will meet again on Monday for a 7 p.m. matchup in Kingsville, Texas at the Steinke Physical Education Center. 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.
