KINGSVILLE, Texas – Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball coach Johnny Estelle became the fifth coach in program history to reach 100 wins as the Javelinas raced past the Dallas Christian Crusaders, 89-53, on Friday night at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
"It's a collective effort," said Estelle. "I know I get the wins, but I also get the losses. To see where we brought the program collectively and when I say we, I mean everybody. I'm talking about the community, my assistant coaches, all my past players and even the current ones, the families, administration, they put a commitment into this program to bring it back to days when I played here and they made it a joy to come back.
"This is a milestone for all of us. I do get the 100th win, but it's for everybody."
The Javs have now claimed back-to-back victories to improve to 2-1 so far in 2021-22.
The leading scorer for the Blue and Gold on this night was senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas), who put up 12 points and junior Tyrese Patterson (Harlem, N.Y.) pitched in with 10. All 14 Javelinas who saw the court contributed on the scoreboard.
Sophomore C.J. Smith (Mansfield, Texas) posted a game-high six assists, while junior Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) dropped five dimes and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas) also snatched up seven boards.
The Hogs first put some distance between themselves and their guests with a run that started at the 10:40 mark with TAMUK holding a 13-12 lead. Patterson scored on a layup, then added a three and, after two points for DCC, a Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) jumper and a triple from Smith made the score 23-14.
When the Crusaders scored again, the Javelinas answered with five more points to complete a 15-4 run for a 12-point edge. TAMUK arrived at halftime with that advantage nearly intact, leading 33-22.
After the break, the Javs sprinted out of the locker room and built an 11-0 run that included consecutive treys from freshman Derek Luna (Palmview, Texas). DCC cut their deficit to 17 soon after, but the Hogs used three-point buckets from junior Sammy Brooks (Dallas, Texas) and Flowers to push the difference back to 22.
TAMUK's lead reached 30 for the first time with 3:15 to play courtesy of a freshman Marcus Jones (Cheneyville, La.) triple to put the score at 80-50. That bucket sparked a 12-0 run capped by a Patterson trey to give TAMUK its largest edge of the night at 89-50. The Hogs cruised the rest of way as coach Estelle reached another milestone in his Javelina career.
TAMUK will be at home again on Saturday, when they're scheduled to take on Northwest Nazarene at 5 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.
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