KINGSVILLE, Texas – Four different players scored in double figures and the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team never trailed on their way to an 82-64 rout of the UT Permian Basin Falcons in Lone Star Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
This Javelinas have now won five straight and no one in the LSC has more victories than TAMUK at 7-1. The Falcons have now dropped three-in-a-row and are 6-3.
"We try to be a selfless team," said coach Johnny Estelle, "and that's a pre-requisite of playing in our program. You have to be willing to play with your teammates, but we don't have to force guys to do that. They do it naturally. Sometimes I think we do it to much, but I'd rather have that problem than have a selfish team."
For the second time this season, junior Ellis Jones (Houston, Texas) led the Hogs in scoring, putting up 17 points and shooting 6-of-11. Classmate Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) contributed 15 and junior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) tallied 14. Junior Tyrese Patterson (Harlem, N.Y.) had a 13-point day and shot 6-of-8 from the floor.
This was the second time in 2020-21 the Javs recorded a shooting percentage of 50 percent of better, as they hit 31-of-62 for the game. The 13 threes they knocked down also matched their second-highest total of the season. The Blue and Gold won the battle on the glass, 30-23 and were plus-four in turnover margin.
The Javelinas raced out of the gate, using triples from Flowers and junior Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) to jump to a 10-2 lead. After Jones hit two foul shots at the 15:46 mark to make the score 15-4, the Javelinas would never lead by less than 10 points the rest of the day.
The Falcons closed to within 21-11 with seven minutes to play in the half, but an 8-1 TAMUK burst pushed the home team's lead to 17 and the Javs later used a stretch in which they scored 13 of 18 points to gain a 20-point edge for the first time. UTPB closed the half with six-points-in-a-row to make the halftime score Javelina 44, Falcons 30.
After the break, TAMUK wasted no time killing any hope the Falcons had of making a comeback. The Javelinas scored 10 of the period's first 11 points to move their margin to 54-31. That lead stayed at more than 20 points for almost the entire period and reached 29 when Jones drained a trey at the 8:05 mark. The Javs cruised the rest of the way en route to consecutive win No. 5.
The Javelians' stretch of four straight home games concludes on Thursday, when they'll host the St. Mary's Rattlers at 7 p.m. at the SPEC. Fans can keep up with Javelina men's basketball 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.
