AUSTIN, Texas – After trailing by as many as 27 points in the first half, the No. 14 Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team came all the way back to break the hearts of the No. 25 St. Edward's Hilltoppers in an 86-83 thriller in Austin, Texas played at the Recreation and Convocation Center in Lone Star Conference action on Thursday night.
The Javelinas have now won 10 straight, matching the second-longest win streak in program history, which was first achieved during the 1989-90 season and matched in 1995-96. They are also 12-1, one victory shy of matching the best start in program history.
"I cannot be more proud of my team tonight," said coach Johnny Estelle. "They demonstrated such resiliency, pride and mental and physical toughness. After we settled down and started playing the right way as a team, we began having success."
Juniors Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) and Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) each reached the 20-point mark, with Wilson scoring 23 and adding 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Chayer hit every shot he took on the night, going 8-of-8 from the field and 4-of-4 on free throws for 20 points while grabbing nine board. This was Chayer's second consecutive game reaching 20 points.
Also helping out on the offensive end were senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas), who tallied 16 points, and junior Tyrese Patterson (Harlem, N.Y.), who contributed 11.
"I cannot be more proud of Will Chayer, Jordan Wilson, Tre Flowers and Tyrese Patterson," said Estelle. "Tyrese was mainly responsible for getting us going in the first half and giving us a spark. I would like to give credit to my staff as well. Coaches Gonzalez and McGouran did an outstanding job keeping us together and believing."
The Javelinas quickly found themselves in a hole, missing their first six shots while SEU put up the game's first 19 points. With 7:27 left in the first half, a three by Marcus Hill stretched the home team's lead 27 points at 38-11.
"I want to give SEU, coach Cook and his staff a lot of credit tonight," said Estelle. "In all my days as a head coach, I cannot recall a time I have been down 35-9. They have a great program."
At that point, the Hogs found their rhythm and started their comeback. Their rally started with a 15-2 run that included six points from Chayer and four from Patterson. After SEU scored five of the next seven points, Wilson capped off the half with back-to-back treys, pulled the visitors to within 45-35 when the halftime buzzer sounded.
The home team tried to restore their momentum by quickly pushing their lead back to 13 points early in the final period, but the Hogs came back with 18 of the next 24 points to get within one at 56-55. That stretch was capped by three Javelina treys, two from Flowers and one from sophomore Jake Majors (Corpus Christi, Texas).
The response was seven straight points from SEU for an eight-point edge and they led by that much again at 70-62 with under nine minutes remaining. What followed was a 13-2 burst by the Javs for their first second-half lead, only to watch their hosts quickly jump back in front by four at 79-75.
The Hilltoppers still led by three after two Daniel Venzant foul shots with 2:39 on the clock made the score 83-80. A Chayer bucket immediately cut the deficit to one, but that was followed by almost two minutes of scoreless basketball.
With 20 seconds remaining, Wilson drew a foul and coolly sank two free throws for the lead, then went to the other end and blocked a layup attempt to keep that lead intact. After two freebies from Majors, a Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) steal iced the comeback and TAMUK's 10th straight win.
The Hogs will go for the regular season sweep of the Hilltoppers on Saturday at the Steinke Physical Education Center in a game that will tip-off at 4 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.
