KINGSVILLE, Texas – Led by 12 second-half points from freshman Derek Luna (Palmview, Texas), the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team outscored the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks 36-19 over the final 20 minutes on their way to a 67-58 victory on Saturday evening at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.

This makes three straight victories for the Hogs, putting them at 3-1 in 2021-22. The Javelinas have also won 16 straight games at home.

"I thought we were consistent," said coach Johnny Estelle. "We played probably our best defensive game of the year so far. We got rebounds, we played collectively together and that's a tribute to those guys. I challenged them and coach challenged them and they responded today. They have a lot of heart, they wanted to keep the streak alive at home and they're a locker room of winners. They proved that tonight."

The leading scorer on the night for the Blue and Gold was sophomore C.J. Smith (Mansfield, Texas), who lit up the scoreboard by scoring 20 points in the first half, finishing the night with 23 points while shooting 9-of-13 from the field. Smith's four assists were also a game-high. All 12 of Luna's points came after halftime and he's scored in double figures three of TAMUK's four games so far this season.

An early 6-2 lead for NNU was erased by a trio of triples from Smith that gave the home team an 11-8 edge, but the visitors soon cobbled together a run of their own.

Trailing 17-14, three straight treys by the Nighthawks put them ahead by six. Although the Hogs quickly cut their deficit to one, NNU held on to the lead for the rest of the period. After a Smith layup with 3:53 on the clock to make the score 35-31, the Javelinas were held scoreless for the rest of the half, but the Nighthawks could only manage to tack on four more points to take a 39-31 advantage into the break.

Control of the second half was immediately seized by the Javelinas in the form of a 15-2 run. Flowers started his team's surge with a three and Luna added another one soon after that made the score 41-39. A Luna jumper with 15:20 to play tied the score and, after more than three minutes of scoreless basketball, sophomore Jake Majors (Corpus Christi, Texas) buried a go-ahead triple.

The Javs would stretch their lead to five, but the Nighthawks scored seven of the game's next eight points to jump back in front, 48-47. It was a short-lived lead, however, and it was erased when Smith connected from beyond the arc less than 30 seconds later.

When NNU tied the score with a pair from the charity stripe, the Hogs rattled off seven straight points for a 57-50 edge with three minutes left. The visitors could not get closer than four points after that, as Javelina free throws salted away the team's third straight triumph.

After being outrebounded 22-13 in the first half, the Hogs reversed that edge and finished with a 37-33 rebounding advantage for the game. They also finished the night plus-four in turnovers. The Javs held their opponents to 27 percent shooting in the second half while shooting 43 percent themselves.

The next stop for the Javs is San Angelo, Texas, where they'll participate in the Angelo State Ram Classic, starting on Friday when they'll play Missouri Baptist 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.

Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy. Get the Official Javelina Athletics Mobile App today! Download on the App Store or Get It on Google Play to keep up with all the news, scores and updates of your favorite Javelinas